No Salt

Unused art and logo designs.

Happy Robot

Even though he was rejected, he is still smiling.

Van Gogh's Chair

Small construction (2.25 x 2.25 x 4 inches) based on the well-known painting by VanGogh. Originally created for a CD cover but not used.

Denied

Recently rejected book cover comp.

Neck + Neck

A pair of my unused CD cover designs circa 2005.

Yo Howdy!

A recent "also ran" logo design for a band.

Selected Reject: Best of Luna

Rejected cover for Best of Luna. Photo taken back in the swinging '60s by the legendary David Bailey. The leggy girl in white is the likewise legendary model, Penelope Tree. (Dig the wine and vinyl on the floor). Luna loved my idea for the cover as did the record company art department. Much to my surprise and joy, permissions were obtained from Mr. Bailey and Ms. Tree. Apparently the party people had sufficiently obscurred faces (cropped or wearing sunglasses -- digitally added in the case of the girl on the left) to be legally passable. Unfortunately the record company lawyers nixed use of the photo because they couldn't track down the full-faced fellow with the shiny jacket passed out on the sofa. (Someone said he was in the band Procol Harum). Too bad.

Sound + Vision

Cover design and dummy spreads from a book proposal (circa 2000). Named after the David Bowie song from his ground-breaking album, Low.

A collection of paintings, drawings, collages, photographs, etc. created by contemporary musicians.

Would have been the third book in a sort of trilogy following What The Songs Look Like: Contemporary Artists Interpret Talking Heads Songs (Harper & Row,1987) and Buddha Book: A Meeting of Images (Chronicle Books, 1997).

Potential contributing musician/artists included: Terry Allen, Laurie Anderson, Melissa Auf der Maur, Beck, David Bowie, David Byrne, John Cage, Kurt Cobain, Billy Corgan, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Brian Eno, Perry Farrell, Chris Frantz, Jerry Garcia, Kim Gordon, John Lennon, Tony Levin, John Mellencamp, Natalie Merchant, Joni Mitchell, Meredith Monk, Thurston Moore, Bill Nelson, Yoko Ono, Liz Phair, Iggy Pop, Lee Ranaldo, Lou Reed, Todd Rundgren, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, Suzanne Vega, Don Van Vliet, Victoria Williams, and Ron Wood. (Keep in mind this list was compiled about eight years ago).

Approximately 50 pieces of art accompanied by a small photo of the musician/artist, a brief statement by each contributor about the relationship between music and visual art, and specifications of the work (title, date, size, etc.)

Foreward by a notable artist, best-selling author or musician/artist (possibly Laurie Anderson).

Introduction (possibly by Oliver Sacks) discussing the connections between music and visual art. (Note: this was my idea about ten years before Oliver Sacks’ best-selling book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain).

The book proposal was rejected by about a dozen publishers.

Although my agent was unable to place this project, I made some new friends during the process. Most notably the amazing British musician, Bill Nelson.

Zaz Turned Blue

Recently stumbled across these front and back comps done for a single by the band WAS (Not Was). I created them in 1983. The Bart Simpson-like punk silhouette head popped out here four years before The Simpsons shorts first appeared on The Tracy Ullman Show. The Simpsons got their own show several years after that. "Zaz Turned Blue," with vocals by Mel Torme (The Velvet Fog), was not released as a single, but did appear on the album Born To Laugh at Tornados.

Instant Karma!

Xerox box schematic and CD label comp for the Ultimate Lennon Box (1989). I was hired to design the box set, and Matt Mahurin to illustrate scenes from John's life. A dream project that unfortuanately for all involved just didn't work out.

Dogs Waiting for Their Humans

This is a selection of photos from a series taken in and around my neighborhood in Brooklyn. So far they have been rejected by The New Yorker, McSweeney's, Time Out New York, Bark, and several other publications. To quote a rejection letter I received from a noted gift book publisher: ". . . Your photographs, though powerful, convey a sense of melancholy; the viewer tends to feel sorry for the dogs who have been left behind, if only temporarily."