Peter Gabriel (Car) - Fine Art Print

This print is available in a paper size of 25.5" x 33.5", where the image size is 19" x 19".

Artwork
The picture was taken in Wandsworth, London. The car, a Lancia Flavia, was owned by the designer Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis. It was sprayed with water from a hose and Peter sat in the passenger seat. Originally in black and white, the artwork was then hand-coloured and each droplet highlight patiently scraped clean with a scalpel by Richard Manning.

“The album cover was done particularly with Storm and Peter at Hipgnosis who I worked with a little bit at the end of the Genesis period. I think they are very important in the way that album sleeves have developed over the years. This was actually his car that I was sitting in and I liked the idea of the water and the sort of black and white and blue colour. One idea I’d had for that first cover was to do mirrored contact lenses and it took me about a month to find someone who would manufacture mirrored contact lenses but they made me sign something that if I damaged my eye they wouldn’t take any responsibility. They were very painful to wear but the effect was fantastic, it was like having steel balls for eyes,” - Peter Gabriel.

Artist
Storm Thorgerson (born 1944) is an English graphic designer, known for his work for rock bands including Pink Floyd, 10cc, Muse, Genesis and Peter Gabriel. He was a key member of the British graphic art group Hipgnosis with Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell, and designed many of their most famous single and album covers. Perhaps Storm’s most famous design is for The Dark Side of the Moon, which has been called one of the greatest album covers of all time.

Hipgnosis went on to create hundreds of classic album covers over the next fifteen years. Peter Gabriel was one of their favourite clients and commissioned them to create the art for his first three solo albums all titled Peter Gabriel and known by fans as Car, Scratch and Melt.

Album
Peter Gabriel’s first solo album was released on 25 February 1977. Produced by Bob Ezrin and featuring an array of musicians including Robert Fripp. A prophecy of the creativity to come; Peter was 27.