Stanley Donwood
Biography
Stanley Donwood is best known for his collaboration with Radiohead, having produced the artwork for the bands album and single record sleeves since 1994, when he designed the artwork for ‘My Iron Lung’. Since then he has gone on to produce artwork for Radiohead’s ‘The Bends’(1995), ‘OK Computer’(1997), ‘Kid A’(2000), ‘Amnesiac’(2001), ‘Hail To The Thief’(2003) and all the associated singles, posters, websites and official merchandise. His fondness to explore and question society, sexuality, war, conformity and politics, are usually the subjects for his artwork. Donwood’s artistic flair has earned him a number of accolades which he is generally reluctant to mention; and has in 2001 won a Grammy along with Doktor Tchock for best Packaging/Artwork for the Special Edition of Amnesiac. In 2006, Eyestorm published a series of four limited edition prints with Donwood: ‘Teeth’, ‘Borealis’, ‘Realistic’ and ‘Avert’, which were based on the album artwork he did for Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’.
More recent works include ‘Baghdad’ and ‘Manhattan’ which came from the same series as ‘Pacific Coast’ which were produced for ‘Hail to the Thief’. Based on the idea of urban real estate, these works are filled with words taken from lyrics on the album and adverts seen on the streets of LA, which often use a basic palette of seven colours. ‘Baghdad’ was completed shortly before the attack on the city known somewhat disingenuously as ‘shock and awe’.
Other works come from various unconnected thoughts and ideas that Donwood may have, or events he’s been influenced by. ‘Despot Bears’ was inspired by a battered book about polish painter Tadeusz Kantor that Downwood found in Copenhagen in the top of a tower block, and ‘Fleet Street Apocalypse’ is the artist making a comment about the history of the print trade and shows buildings in flames on the infamous street whilst a few desperate survivors attempt to escape a flood that sweeps the street.
Starting his career with the launch of the ‘Stanley Donwood Outdoor Gallery’ in Plymouth in 1992 Donwood painted elaborate pieces of work on disused buildings, he has since been included in many exhibitions and has been actively involved in raising awareness and funds for charities which include painting a cow for the Dublin Cow Parade, Ireland, titled ‘Restructured Burger’ with the proceeds going to Dublin Simon Community and the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation. Donwood has also published a selection of books, the most recent being ‘Slowly Downward; A collection of miserable stories’, 2005 and is currently working on two new books to be entitled ‘Household Worms’ and ’Folly’. His most recent show was in Heerlen, Holland. A labyrinthine construction entitled ‘Red Maze’, the exhibition took place in over 300 metres of corridors and rooms in a large basement area below Schunck, a beautiful glass building housing a multi-disciplinary cultural centre.