artwork by Philipp Haager

Here are a few abstract works by German artist Philipp Haager (more information available there).

His dimly-lit paintings seem to reveal overcast skies and watery landscapes, at times ominous, at others glowing with hope.

Picture these on your wall in their actual sizes (some are over 2m long) and try not to be in awe…

artwork by Olivier Jallet

In 2000, Shambala Records out of Paris issued Liquid Sphere's first proper release, 'skull & bones'. For Boris Cabeza and Gregory - respectively one of the two label managers and the company's graphic designer - to work on the artwork, I sent them some photographs of a dozen or so paintings by my friend Olivier Jallet (OLV).

They used a few of them, but either printed in black and white, or so blurred - on purpose - that you couldn't make them out for what they were in the first place. Which doesn't mean that I don't like the artwork for 'skull & bones', but Olivier's fantastic paintings really deserve more than this poor representation.

Here is a sample of his colourful, lush and tempestuous output. These five pieces date back from the late 1990's.

Hypocracy series

These photographs are part of the 'hypocracy' series of Liquid Sphere releases.

It all started with a photograph I took in New Orleans in December 2001. I noticed a graffiti scribbled on a wall and decided it would be appropriate for the artwork of the upcoming Liquid Sphere 3" CDR 'hypocracy' put out by Taalem in 2002. Some variations were found on the 'hypocracy 2 & 3' CDR. More may one day be included in the artwork for the unreleased 'hypocracy 4' EP.

artwork by Shirin Neshat

Shirin Neshat (شیرین نشاط) is a renowned US-based Iranian artist whose multimedia works often comment on the relationship between women and Islam. Some of her photographs have graced the covers of albums by British artist Muslimgauze (a one-man band led by the late Bryn Jones). 
Shirin Neshat has also produced a handful of films, among which the breathtaking short 'Turbulent' which can be seen here.
You can also view more pictures by Shirin Neshat on this page or on that one.

artwork by Russell Mills

Russell Mills doesn't need an introduction to those familiar with the mid-nineties releases of Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails. I was surprised to learn recently that this British artist had also created the artwork for dozens of records by the likes of Japan, Brian Eno and Minimal Compact prior to those for NIN.
Here are a few of his more recent creations, more of which can be seen on his website :

artwork by Eric Blum

Eric Blum is an artist using mostly beeswax, but also resin - which is how I found out about him, while I was doing some research about epoxy resin, which is a material I use quite often to fix my surf boards, or other things.
Eric Blum creates ethereal "landscapes" - for lack of a more appropriate term - with an uncanny depth. Many more of his works can be seen there.

artwork by Cordell Klier

I already mentioned Cordell's work (both musical and visual) in a previous post regarding the liquid sphere's 'Blissful World' album.
What follows are some examples of how you turn some amazing artwork into great-looking covers.
Once again, I advise you to visit Cordell's website to view more of his artwork and download (for free) many of his releases. Those featured below are among those I would highly recommend you get. They are 'The Knoll (for Lisa Anne Schmidt)' (2003), 'New' (2004) and 'Rebirth (The Physics of Light)' (2005).

artwork by Kouhei

If you feel so inclined, enjoy some beautiful drawings by Japanese musician Kouhei Matsunaga at:

http://www.ffss.info/kouhei/main.htm

Blissful World series

The title for this series may come as a surprise for those familiar with my musical work, since some of these pictures were actually used for the 'Hammer of Wisdom' disc by Liquid Sphere.

This series was actually originally intended for the 'Blissful World' album which was released in 2003 by the label Docsect Media out of Minneapolis. Cordell Klier - the man behind Doctsect Media - wanted something more streamlined for 'Blissful World', so I let him use some design of his own for the release. I don't blame him for that at all. What he created suits more the overall visual image of his label, and image has always been an important aspect of Cordell's output:   http://doctsect.com/

untitled series 1

digital artwork 12Aug2001