The 1960s and 1970s offered many options for mind expansion: psychedelic drugs, Eastern meditation, sex — and the art of Mati Klarwein.
Klarwein (1932–2002) 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.
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 Klarwein 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 and Gregg Allman. Major record labels also employed Klarwein, 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 will appeal to lovers of music, graphic design and psychedelic art.
