Dead children playing – Stanley Donwood

While the artist Stanley Donwood might not be a household name, his artwork is immediately recognizable. As the former art-school friend of Thom Yorke, he has been Radiohead’s resident cover artist, having designed all of the band’s record art since 1994’s My Iron Lung EP. Most recently he created the frontispiece of Tom Yorke’s solo debut, The Eraser.

Stanley Donwood - Kid2

He now has a show at Iguapop Gallery in Barcelona, Spain opening this week entitled Dead Children Playing highlighting his work with the band, and features the art for Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail To The Thief, among others. I’ve always loved his work, although I never knew who created it. I always assumed it was some offshoot alias of Thom Yorke’s, so it’s nice to see more of the background of the artist.

Stanley Donwood - Kid1

His website Slowly Downward highlights more of his art and writings, while being immediately familiar to anyone who has visited Radiohead’s website. After the show he posted on his site that, “Barcelona is a fucking great city“, which I love to hear; it’s a city I’ve long wanted to visit. I really love his artwork, and these three stand on their own beautifully.

Stanley Donwood - Amnesiac1




  • http://shepizzle.com/ RadioheadReviewer

    This stuff is beautiful, art that is very complimentary to the music. I was a little bummed that they didn’t include a .jpg with the In Rainbows download.

  • http://shepizzle.com RadioheadReviewer

    This stuff is beautiful, art that is very complimentary to the music. I was a little bummed that they didn’t include a .jpg with the In Rainbows download.

  • http://fak3r.com/ fak3r

    @RadioheadReviewer
    Oh I’ll second that, but again, this was a ground breaking thing they were doing – so I’m sure next time they’ll have a digital press pack included. Until then, there are plenty of great In Rainbows covers out there to choose from, like this one:
    http://www.exclaim.ca/images/up-radiohead.jpg

  • http://fak3r.com fak3r

    @RadioheadReviewer
    Oh I’ll second that, but again, this was a ground breaking thing they were doing – so I’m sure next time they’ll have a digital press pack included. Until then, there are plenty of great In Rainbows covers out there to choose from, like this one:
    http://www.exclaim.ca/images/up-radiohead.jpg

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