Francesco Spampinato's 'Art Record Covers' Surveys 600 Album Covers by Fine Artists

Francesco Spampinato's book 'Art Record Covers' (Taschen, 2017) collects nearly 600 album covers created by fine artists from the 1950s to today, selected from a list of about 3,000. The volume aims to fill a gap in existing literature, which typically approaches record covers from a musical or graphic design perspective. Spampinato focuses on covers made by artists who usually produce paintings, sculptures, installations, videos, or performances shown in museums, international exhibitions like Documenta and the Venice Biennale, and fairs such as Art Basel and Frieze. The book is organized alphabetically by artist and includes critical texts. Notable covers include Salvador Dalí's 1955 design for Jackie Gleason (the oldest in the book), Joan Miró's covers for Catalan singers Raimon and Maria del Mar Bonet, and works by Luigi Ghirri, Mimmo Paladino, Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari (Toiletpaper), Francesco Clemente, Enrico David, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Mario Schifano. Spampinato also highlights collaborations where artists were directly involved in the music, such as Pipilotti Rist's membership in the Swiss post-punk band Les Reines Prochaines. The book reflects on how art, music, and marketing converge, and considers whether a record cover can be considered an artwork. Spampinato notes that the vinyl revival, with UK vinyl revenues surpassing digital downloads in 2016, has renewed interest in large-format, detail-rich covers.