In Issue 6 of Kolaj, we feature an interview with collage-meister Lou Beach. Beach was born in Germany to Polish parents and moved to Rochester, New York with his family at age 4. Beach gained wide recognition for his cover art for Weather Report’s Heavy Weather album (1977). He also created album covers for Ray Manzarek, The Carpenters, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Blink 182, The Neville Brothers, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Dave Alvin, and Ethel Merman. Kolaj asked artist David Powell to sit down with him.
POWELL: You must also have a large collection of images on paper that you draw from. Are you an avid collector? Where do you find your source materials? You have some great landscape print backgrounds in the work, Avenging Angel, do you have some favorite haunts that provide you with source material?
BEACH: Just the regular suspects…eBay, Etsy, swap meets, used bookstores. I have drawers and boxes and bookshelves of stuff and I have to restrain myself from acquiring too much, but it’s almost a compulsion. I am drawn to old lithography and aged foxed papers, the edges cracked.
To read the full article, purchase Issue Six or SUBSCRIBE to never miss an issue.
Image:
Fable 1
by Lou Beach
7.5″x10″
old book illustrations, scraps of ephemera
2006