In my opinion the cover artwork for Björk’s 1997 album ‘Homogenic’ was her most daring and confrontational yet. Abiding by a formula shared by many of her albums, all the way up to her upcoming ‘Utopia’, the cover consists of a waist-up photograph of Björk herself adorned in inspired, original attire. This art direction for this album was headed up by high-fashion legend Alexander McQueen and fashion is how the artwork captures the spirit of the album. Björk was quoted as telling McQueen that the person on the cover “had to become a warrior. A warrior who had to fight not with weapons, but with love.”(Gibsone, 2017) so she is shown dressed in a Japanese style Kimono with a with a stony expression on her face evoking a kind of fierce geisha. Her unsettling appearance belies her romantic intentions.

Björk – Homogenic (album cover) A.McQueen, N.Knight, Me Company

Moving away from classic, renowned musical art to fan-made art, I chose this poster of the 1973 French/Czech animated sci-fi film Fantastic Planet or Le Planete Sauvage created by Australian student graphic designer Joey Klarenbeek. The first thing I notice about this design is the strong influence of legendary psychedelic poster designer Victor Moscoso. The concentric lines combined with the vibrating yet inhibited colours point to notorious event poster designs Neon Rose #2 while the type borrows from Neon Rose #12, both Moscoso pieces. The type could also be compared to type from contemporary 70’s designer Wes Wilson, typos aside.

Psychedelic Poster – Le Planete Sauvage (1973) Joey Klarenbeek

The clear similarities between the two pieces seem to end at the shared themes of centrality, symmetry and character. An obscure link is that they both focus on strange individuals, both appearing part human, part alien.

Gibsone, H. (2017). Björk’s album artwork – in pictures. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2015/jan/22/bjorks-album-artwork-in-pictures-vulnicura-biophilia