Best Art Vinyl 2018: Winners announced

09 January 2019 - Press release

Tumbling intertwinned naked bodies WINS ARTwork design prize for editors

This evening, Art Vinyl together with The Hari Hotel, Belgravia, revealed the winners of the Best Art Vinyl 2018 award. The public vote placed Editors’ sleeve art, filled with the movement of naked bodies for the album Violence, in first place; Young Fathers’ twisted portrait for Cocoa Sugar in second; and in third, Aphex Twin featuring the deconstruction of the artists’ classic logo merging into nature in the form of a pulse from the Collapse EP.

The winning album cover design for Editors’ sixth studio album was designed and photographed by regular visual collaborator Rahi Rezvari. He has a history depicting movement through visuals, producing imagery and campaigns for the Netherlands Dance Theatre.

Lead Singer with Editors Tom Smith explains in greater detail the relationship between the sleeve and the band.
“I think Rahi took inspiration from the theme of human connection running through the record.
His image is as brutal as the title, it is ambiguous and it is beautiful.

Smith continued “Over the last few years Rahi has become the visual voice of the band, whether he’s taking press shots, creating covers or shooting videos his work is sleek and stylish, gritty and uncomfortable, and perfectly in line with the music….more than that his art amplifies the music we create as it does to us individually, as the performers. His is now a vital hand in the development of the wider personality of the band, when people see our work; the image or video being viewed is his, a result of his interpretation of our music.”

This is the 14th winner of the Best Art Vinyl Award, the unique Contemporary Art Prize that celebrates record cover design by compiling the best in art, photography and graphic design in modern music culture each year.

This year’s winning design will join a retrospective exhibition of vinyl record cover design currently on show at the London O2 Arena. The exhibition celebrates the 70th Birthday of the vinyl LP and covers the many changes in design styles over this period.

2018’s winning best vinyl art joins the impressive Art Vinyl archive of celebrated visual artists. Notably including the Hipgnosis design studio, and even legendary classical Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel, as well as the unknown, unsung heroes of the music industry, who use design to create modern-day visual icons.

Best Art Vinyl founder, Andrew Heeps explains why this contemporary art prize maintains its relevance as we celebrate the design work for a music format that is now 70 years old, “The humble vinyl record still remains the ultimate canvas for creatives through the years. Drawing inspiration from the music and the wider culture, it’s still the perfect format to lock a time and place into an iconic visual.”

In January 2019, the winners of the Best Art Vinyl 2018 award will feature in numerous exhibitions in the UK and Europe, and can be viewed on artvinyl.com. All of the designs will be displayed in the unique Art Vinyl Flip Frame which allows instant access to the music and additional inner sleeve designs.

The Best Art Vinyl 2018 records will form a stunning window installation at the Hari Hotel, London Belgravia from 9^th January 2019 until 30^st March 2018.

 

The 50 nominated Best Art Vinyl 2018 records with designer credits can be viewed at Artvinyl.com

A full list of winners from each year is also available from Wikipedia or on Artvinyl.com