John Van Hamersveld

John Van Hamersveld (born 1941, Baltimore, Maryland, United States) is an American graphic artist and illustrator who designed record jackets for pop and psychedelic bands, since the 1960s.[1] Albums include Hotter Than Hell by Kiss, Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles, Crown of Creation by Jefferson Airplane and Exile on Main Street by The Rolling Stones.

Album covers

Among his most notable album covers are:

Movie posters

The Endless Summer one sheet movie poster, 1964

Van Hamersveld designed the iconic Endless Summer movie poster using a photograph. He arranged the shoot in January, 1964, after filmmaker Bruce Brown showed him the film's opening scene. He positioned Brown in the foreground with his surfboard on his head and the film's two stars between Brown and the setting sun. He had learned this technique at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where he took night classes, graduating later that year. He converted the photo into an abstract design by reducing each color to a single tone and giving each image a single, hard edge.[3]

Other work

He designed an official poster and 360-foot-long mural for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games; illustrations for Esquire, Rolling Stone, Billboard; and branding and logos for Fatburger, Contempo Casuals, and Broadway Deli. He also designed the rear cover collage and inside sleeve of Billy Squier's 1984 album Signs of Life painted two buses for the Fremont st experience for the summer of love 40th anniverserey

Recent work

In 1997 he started his own line of products revisiting his work from 1964–1974, which he calls “Post-Future.” With the printmaking of a fine art edition of the “Endless Summer” Poster, he moved his design work into his Coolhous studio in Santa Monica and between analog and digital environments has managed to create works such as the posters for the 2005 Cream reunion concert at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2013 John celebrated 50 years in Graphic Design producing a vinyl EP record sleeve for Liverpool-based Blues Rockers Sankofa as well as releasing the book John Van Hamersveld - Coolhaus Studio: 50 years of Graphic Design. He continued that line of work in 2014 with two more artworks for records by Asher Roth 'Retrohash' and the Billboard Top 5 release 'Get Hurt' by The Gaslight Anthem.

References

  1. "'Endless Summer' poster guy makes digital waves", by Tom Berg, The Orange County Register, January 14, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
  2. "Preserver of the past". Calgaryherald.com. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
  3. "Orange County Register : The poster that changed Orange County". Ocregister.com. Retrieved 2014-07-18.

External links

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