Any long-serving reader of my "regular blog" Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle will know that one of "our gang"'s occasional divertissements is to attempt to photographically recreate those magnificently-stylised 80s album covers we know and love - see here, here and here for examples.
Today comes sad news that the man who was behind most of those images we were emulating, photographer Brian Griffin has departed to take up residence in the Posing Room at Fabulon.
Here are just a few of the many, many works that encapsulated, if not influenced, the aesthetic that particular [favourite] era five decades ago...
Mr Griffin's work was lauded throughout his career - his photograph for the Depeche Mode LP A Broken Frame [at the top of this post] was chosen for the cover of Life magazine's "The World's Best Photographs: 1980 - 1990", and he was voted The Guardian’s photographer of the decade in 1989. Permanent collections of his photography are held in galleries across the globe, including the National Portrait Gallery, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the V&A.
His impact on popular consciousness, however, is forever cemented in his classic album covers, for the likes of Iggy Pop, Joe Jackson, Psychedelic Furs, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Devo, among many, many others. The following is merely a soupçon:
[All works copyright Brian Griffin Estate - click any pic to enlarge]
RIP, Brian Griffin (13th April 1948 – 29th January 2024)
A very talented photographer with a great body of work and another sad loss .
ReplyDeleteAn inspiration to us all - we haven't done a "mock 80s album cover photo" in ages. Jx
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