Background information
"The 1960s and 1970s offered many options for mind expansion: psychedelic drugs, Eastern meditation, sex - and the art of Mati KLARWEIN (1932-2002). The German painter was a major presence in the New York art scene, admired by everyone from Andy WARHOL and Salvador Dalí to Jimi Hendrix and Jackie Onassis (who commissioned him to paint a portrait of John F. Kennedy). His pop-surrealist universe of pantheistic religious harmony, sexual fertility and gender and racial unity gave visual expression to an era and to a generation of music, and was embraced by some of the most progressive musicians of his time.
Content
The out-of-print volume 'Mati & the Music' presents Klarwein’s 52 paintings that appeared on album covers, a body of work that began in the mid–1950s and continued for half a century. The majority of the album covers he painted were commissioned by the musicians themselves, most famously by Miles Davis for his breakthrough fusion albums 'Bitches Brew' and 'Live Evil' and Carlos Santana for 'Abraxas'. Others included Earth Wind & Fire, Buddy Miles, Jimi Henrix, Osibisa as well as Gregg Allman. Major record labels also employed Mati KLARWWEIN, including Blue Note for Jackie McLean and Reuben Wilson, and Douglas Records for the Last Poets, Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia. With the trim size of an LP album, 'Mati & The Music. 52 Record Covers 1955/2005. A book about Mati Klarwein' will appeal to lovers of music, graphic design and psychedelic art. The text is by Serge Bramly.
Book review
"There's something perversely interesting about the figures in the record covers by Mati KLARWEIN... especially when removed from the music, silently staring at the viewer...there's a talismanic power in these paintings turned record sleeves. The assorted mandalas, pregnant belly nipples, flaming lattices, and morphing human figures all seem to reflect aural memories." (© Andre Vida)