The Temple of Wax

The Temple of Wax, our new exhibition which runs until mid February, features classic album sleeve art from the sixties onwards. 

The Temple of Wax pays tribute to the twelve inch vinyl LP.  In the build up to the launch of this exhibition we’ve been acquiring vinyl albums to display on the walls alongside some of the photographs that are appearing in the exhibition. It brought back some strong memories of the pre CD era: teenage years spent discovering great vinyl, sometimes buying an album on a hunch just because of the strength of the cover design ( and equally avoiding something for the same reason.) 

So if you have ever sat in your room, listening to classic albums while pouring over the sleeve designs, the liner notes, the inners, then this exhibition is for you. 

There are a number of firsts in this exhibition, as we introduce some new artists to the gallery.

Pete McKee.
It’s the first time we have exhibited a painting on our walls, and it’s a beautiful piece of work by our new best friend, incredibly talented Sheffield based artist Pete McKee. Pete has created a painting the interior of a “perfect” independent record shop for us, with racks stacked with the kind of vinyl we want to listen to. This is such a great piece that we know it will be snapped up very quickly. There can only be one owner, however we think the concept is so special that we are offering our clients the opportunity to commission their own bespoke McKee record shop painting. You can read more about that, and Pete’s work generally, here

Kate Simon
Best known for her photographs of Bob Marley,  and for making one of the best photographs of Debbie Harry we have ever seen (and which will feature in our next exhibition in January 2011 ) Kate photographed the cover of The Clash’s first album, and this will appear in the exhibition, alongside Pennie Smith’s classic London Calling cover photograph.

Keith Morris
Keith made iconic images of Nick Drake and Marc Bolan, both of which will feature in gallery exhibitions over the coming years, but in this exhibition we are including his cover image from Elvis Costello’s “My Aim is True” album.

Frank Stefanko’s actual cover images from Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River
For the first time, nicely timed to coincide with the release of the 16 November 2010 reissue of Darkness on the Edge of Town, Frank Stefanko is offering collectors the chance to acquire limited editions of his classic cover photographs from Darkness and The River.

Other treats

We’ll be showing a great range of classic images from all eras, with something for everyone. In the downstairs space we will be concentrating on the sixties and sixties influences, the ground floor has a predominant seventies theme, while upstairs is turned over to ‘Americana’.  

Last but not least, we'll also be featuring two related products that make great Xmas present ideas:

Beatles, John Lennon and Bob Dylan Boxes of Vision
If you haven't seen a Box of Vision you are in for a treat. These lavish packages reproduce, in a hardcover book in their original full size glory, the original cover art ( including original inserts) for every LP release for the artists featured, packaging these up in a beautiful presentation box with a loose leaf storage system for storing all your CDs from those artists. The Box of Vision allows you to keep everything in one place and not annoy your other half by having CDs littered everywhere. They are really beautiful objects, and very affordable.

ArtVinyl Play and Display frames
As well as displaying a range of beautiful limited edition photographs ( both of actual cover images and rare session outtakes), we will also be displaying original albums in ArtVinyl’s patented Play and Display frames alongside the photographs, so that visitors can compare and contrast. We have selection of ArtVinyl frames available to purchase pre-loaded with classic albums, and the frames can be of course be supplied empty so that you have a blank canvas to create your own wall display of classic cover images. These are the best LP display frames on the market.  

So come and check it out for yourself - it’s a perfect way to see a range of important work by many of the photographers we represent, all in one place at one time.