Pink Floyd Posters

The fantastic 'Back Catalogue' photography was taken in 1996 to promote the digitally remastered Pink Floyd albums from years prior. It involves a group of naked boys and girls chatting at the edge of a swimming pool with copies of selected Floyd covers painted on their backs. The designs were not projected or computer manipulated but instead directly painted to naturally follow body curves and reflect light. They were painted courtesy of artist Phyllis Cohen. Designer Finlay Cowan was largely responsible for the idea and the design was enhanced by Tony May.

This poster features the iconic cover art of the Dark Side Of The Moon. Originally an LP sleeve, the sleeve was designed by British art design group Hipgnosis and graphic designer George Hardie. Hardie has taught postgraduate students of graphic design at the University of Brighton since 1990. Floyd had been given the choice of seven unique designs by Hipgnosis, including George Hardie's prism design, and all four members of the band agreed that it was far the best. In 2003 the album cover was named as the 4th greatest of all time by VH1.

'Wish You Were Here' was the seventh studio album from Pink Floyd and was the album which followed 'Dark Side of the Moon'. Hypgnosis partner Storm Thorgerson had accompanied the band on their European tour, whilst they wrote the tracks on the album, and he spent hours brainstorming with the band on the theme of 'absence' to reflect what he and the band considered to be the primary influences of the writing. Thorgerson eventually decided that the album could be sold in a plain dark sleeve, with a small sticker, to hide the cover art from the consumer until they had purchased. The albums cover image of two businessmen shaking hands was based on the idea of people tending to conceal their true feelings for fear of getting burned, and thus one of the men is on fire. The man in the photo is actually on fire, whilst wearing a fire-retardant suit underneath his business suit, and his head was protected by a fire-resistant hood underneath a wig. The photo was taken at Warner Bros. studios in LA.

Work began on the cover art for the album Animals only after the recording had been completed in November 1976. Once again the design group Hipgnosis offered three ideas, however - unusually - the band rejected the ideas and instead chose an idea by bandmember Roger Waters. At the time of recording Waters lived in Clapham Common and would regularly drive past Battersea Power Station, which at the time was nearing the end of its life as a functioning power station. The band commission German company Ballon Fabrik and Australian artist Jeffery Shaw to build a 30 metre porcine balloon, which was inflated with helium and maneuvered behind the power station on 2nd December 1976. A trained marksman was on standby to shoot the balloon in case it escaped. Rather amusingly, the bad weather meant that they had to photograph on 3rd December and the band had forgotten to book the marksman for the second day. Fate had clearly been tempted and the balloon broke from its moorings. A Kent farmer recovered the balloon and, despite being angry that it had scared his cows, returned the balloon for a third days shooting.