If you’ve ever had the pleasure of owning a physical copy of a Parquet Courts record, you would have noticed their artwork is always impeccable. If this piqued your interest enough to dive into the liner notes to see who the artist behind it all, is you would have noted it was Andrew Savage. And for the more perceptive fans, it probably would have clicked that this Andrew Savage was the very same that plays guitar and sings in the band. Good for you.
Get to know the dexterous creative skill set of Andrew Savage, the singer/guitarist of Parquet Courts who is also responsible for all their brilliant album art.
Since the band’s inception in 2010, Savage has been responsible for the majority of their visual material, exhibiting a stunning ability to mirror each release’s quirk, magnetism and artistic ingenuity through aesthetic formats.
Savage studied drawing and painting at the University of North Texas. While he mostly creates art that is in some way connected to his music, he also looks further for inspiration. “I do make art outside of Parquet Courts that has less to do with music,” he told It’s Nice That last year.
“The painting that is on the cover of Human Performance wasn’t originally meant to have anything to do with the band, but it started singing out to me, I felt a sort of emotional resonance from it that was congruent with the energy of the record.”
In the same interview he talks about his influences being very much based in the art world:
“I draw influences from a lot of different artists, especially ones that use colour as a medium. So I look at a lot of Matisse, John Wesley, Jacob Lawrence, Hokusai – people that use colours that are harmonious and emotional, and in a very deliberate, nuanced way.
Kandinsky’s writings on colour theory are fascinating, and have really influenced me. I care about composition, and colour, if one uses colour, it’s such a huge part of that. There are so many things in life, memories, sounds, scents that I associate with colour; and for the viewer, I want those colours to manifest the emotions that I put into an artwork.”
In 2015, Savage put on his very first solo exhibition called Color Studies 2015, made up of silk screen work that he’d completed that year. The work he exhibited was visceral and poignant, ingrained in pop art aesthetics and practice.
Since then he has largely stuck to album art, completing an excellent series for the deluxe LP version of Parquet Court’s 2016 record Human Performance. He has also been design a bunch of merch for the band. Take a look at their website for a selection of Savage-created tees. Check out a bunch of his brilliant art below.
