This autumn saw Best Art Vinyl, an international award celebrating the best in record cover design, head to Barnsley as part of an exciting new exhibition featuring a host of renowned names from the world of music, art, design and photography.
Now in its 12th year, Best Art Vinyl is a unique award celebrating record cover art, compiling the global opinion on the best in art, photography and graphic design in modern music culture.
Best Art Vinyl: 12 Years on 12 Inches will show simultaneously in Barnsley, Bologna and Budapest. The exhibition will showcase all fifty 2017 award nominees and also take a retrospective look at some of the best from the last twelve years.
Previous winners have included albums by The Last Shadow Puppets, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Radiohead’s Thom York, and nominated albums have featured artwork by varied and illustrious names, such as sixteenth century Dutch master Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Turner Prize nominee Jenny Saville, Sir Quentin Blake, Jamie Hewlett and legendary Pop artist, Sir Peter Blake.
Visitors to the exhibition, in all three cities, will be able to vote for which record they thinks deserves to win the Best Art Vinyl award.
In a nod to the South Yorkshire Town, this exhibition of two halves also features Best Art Vinyl Barnsley; an in-depth look at twelve of the town’s own vinyl record covers, by musicians either from or living in Barnsley, including Saxon, Rolo Tomassi, The Black Lamps, Groove Armada and The Unthanks.
The final part of the exhibition will consist of a wall of records curated by visitors to the gallery. Visitors to the gallery will be invited to frame their favourite vinyl record sleeves and leave a note describing what it means to them or a favourite musical memory.
Best Art Vinyl: 12 Years on 12 Inches is on at The Civic in Barnsley until January 20, 2018. Admission is free. For more details, click here.
