The 18th July 2013, the new Babyshambles album cover appears on the web. Signed by Damien Hirst, the result surprised more than one!
Indeed, when the bassist Drew Mc Connel announced the collaboration with the most famous member of the Young British Artist (collective where Damien Hirst realized his first great works in the ’90s) lots were waiting for something darker.
Many know the antics and the darkness of the Babyshambles leader, Peter Doherty, but less are aware of the work of Damien Hirst. He is one of the leaders in the contemporary art scene on the question between art, life and death. To prove it, his two most famous works are a shark immersed into a formaldehyde tank, and the famous For The Love of God, a platinum replica of a human skull covered with 8601 diamonds. It’s one of the most expensive art piece ever, sold at 100 millions of dollars.
For all this, we were expecting a cover with a trash and uncomfortable spirit. On the contrary, the artist offered us a colourful cover, with warm and joyful tones with an overprint of Pennie Smith photographs (Artist who shoot The Clash, The Slits, The Jam and Morrisey for example) The colourful background makes us think about the special marbling effect on special vinyl pressing instead of psychedelic art composed of diverse form. It hints more a Jackson Pollock effect with all the colours thrown on it. With this cover, Damien Hirst and the Babyshambles manage their goals: surprise us and perplex us.
On another hand, Damien Hirst is not at his first try with musicians: with paintings, he has worked with David Bowie. For video clip, he realized Country House for Blur in 1995 then Even Better Than The Real Thing (Fish Out Of Water Mix) for U2 in 2011, where we can see his pieces and how he may have created the background of Sequel To The Prequel cover.
