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“DIY Album Art: Paper Bags & Office Supplies” Salutes 1990’s Punk & Hardcore Hand-Made Initiative
July 8, 2009
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New York, NY – July 8, 2009 – In the early 1990s, a fresh, do-it-yourself approach began to percolate through the North American punk and hardcore scenes. The new DIY initiative didn’t stop at self-booking tours and self-releasing records – it involved designing and assembling every physical aspect of the release. Hand-gluing sleeves, silk-screening manila envelopes and raiding thrift stores for LP jackets that could be re-used became the norm. Culled from the personal collection of author J. Namdev Hardisty, the mastermind behind MBP’s New Skateboard Graphics, the albums featured in the new book DIY Album Art laid the groundwork for an innovative, non-traditional look that has paved the way for major labels.
From aluminum foil, burlap, vintage wallpaper to cereal boxes and tar paper, the innovative packaging was a practical alternative for bands with little-to-no budget. But these works of art became exactly that – and while many of the bands have fizzled, the hand-made fruits of their labor have endured.
DIY Album Art: Paper Bags and Office Supplies showcases and documents the hand-made packaging developed by labels such as Gravity, Bloodlink, File 13, Arcade Kacha, Tree, Donut Friends, Repercussion and Vermin Scum, as well as those that build on the tradition like Helicopter, Coreleone and Auxiliary, sharing a unique aesthetic and usage of materials borne out of financial necessity and creative imperatives.
“The DIY aesthetic didn’t make things feel cheaper, but better.” says Hardisty in DIY, “I’m glad to have spent all those hours camped out at Kinko’s, hands covered in rubber cement…getting an intimate knowledge of what it takes to make things, and furthermore, what it feels like to make things.”
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DIY Album Art: Paper Bags & Office Supplies
Mark Batty Publisher
Page Count: 144
Size: 10 x 8 inches
Format: Caseboard with Exposed Boards
Publication Date: June 2009
Price: $34.95
ISBN: 978-0-9820754-2-5
