Hipgnosis/Courtesy of San Francisco Art ExchangeA new exhibit celebrating the 50th anniversary of the famed Hipgnosis album-design team, which created surrealistic covers for classic albums by Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney and many more rock legends, will open this Saturday, November 10, at the San Francisco Art Exchange (SFAE).
The “Art of Hipgnosis” exhibit will include more than 60 pieces available for viewing and purchase, including fine-art prints, proof sheets and original artwork designs from albums like Pink Floyd’s Pulse, Led Zeppelin’s Presence and Peter Gabriel‘s 1980 self-titled solo effort, a.k.a. “Melt.”
The exhibit also will feature rare photos of various artists, including a collection of previously unseen pics of The Rolling Stones taken by Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey “Po” Powell for the band’s 1973 album Goats Head Soup.
On Saturday, an invitation-only opening reception will be held at SFAE that will be attended by Powell, who launched the company in 1968 with the late Storm Thorgerson. The first cover they created was for Pink Floyd’s second album, A Saucerful of Secrets.
Hipgnosis’ most iconic design is probably the cover of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, but other covers created by the company include Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and Animals, Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy, McCartney and Wings‘ Venus and Mars, AC/DC‘s Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Yes‘ Going for the One and Genesis‘ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
“I’m thrilled to work with the San Francisco Art Exchange on this exhibition to celebrate 50 years of Hipgnosis work,” says Powell. “[The gallery owners] have a lot of sympathy and respect for the kind of work that we did. They’re prepared to put the radical ideas that we came up with and display them to the public as art.”
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