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.
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.
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.