Sold Date: April 7, 2019
Start Date: September 17, 2018
Final Price: $375.00 (AUD)
Seller Feedback: 246
Buyer Feedback: 2

Disraeli Gears record
By CREAM

EXTREMELY RARE & HIGHLY COLLECTIBLE.

INVESTMENT

Album cover signed under the word CREAM in black ink by the artist Martin Sharp plus record . ( see photo).

This is an original record made in England 1967 of this classic album.

Very very rare to find a copy signed by Australian 1960s Pop Artist Martin Sharp . Martin is the artist whom created this album cover.

Martin was close friend of Eric Clapton who was lead guitarist of CREAM .

Only selling this unique collectors piece from my art collection because I a moving into a small appartment and there is no space.

Provenance : purchased from Martin Sharp's friend Roger Fogg ( 1960s psychadelic lighting artist) who had the Album signed 50 years ago .

This is a true collectors item ( valued at $3,000 ).

Martin Sharp (1942-2013) was one of the most significant artists of the Sixties, with his iconic psychedelic posters and album covers gracing the walls and record collections of anyone who claimed to be ‘cool’. Through his visually stunning Big O posters featuring musicians such as Donovan, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, the design of record covers for rock supergroup Cream, and art and design work for the Australian and English editions of OZ magazine and various book publications, Sharp provided the young generation with a unique collection of psychedelic pop art and images which reflected the times and inspired. They referenced the Dada and Surrealist artists of the 1920s and 1930s, including Georgio de Chirico, Max Ernst and Rene Magritte, along with Impressionists of the late nineteenth century such as Vincent van Gogh. Sharp was an avid student of the history of art, and his mix of surrealism with modern pop and psychedelia produced a unique art for the period.The origins of his work lay in experiences gained during the late fifities and early sixties in Australia as a cartoonist and graphic designer for publications such as University of Sydney student newspaper Honi Soit and OZ magazine (Australia), along with book illustrations including Craig McGregor’s People, Politics and Pop – Australia in the Sixties (1966). He subsequently flourished as an artist during his residence in London between 1966-8, whilst working on the London edition of OZ and with the Big O Posters company for a series of spectacular 20 x 30 inch posters. Sharp’s art was colourful, visceral, intense, informative, critical and above all modern. It was an integral part of the cultural revolution of the time - as much an historic record as the personal expression of a gifted artist. Sex, drugs and rock n’ roll feature prominently. When we look back to the art of the Sixties, and especially Pop Art and psychedelia, almost invariably Martin Sharp is mentioned, though usually not in the same league as gallery-stalwarts Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein. The reason for this omission, and for Sharp’s ongoing relegation in status and neglect, is due to the very fact that he engaged in a popularist, anti-establishment brand of art. Posters, record covers, magazine illustrations, shop fronts, movie set design and the like – this was not high art or the output of a traditional artist, producing works in oil and watercolour for exhibition and institutional purchase. The fact is, some of the finest examples of Sharp's art from the Sixties exists only in ephemeral magazines and cheap paperback books. There are often no gallery equivalents. It could be said – and has been said on a number of occasions – that Sharp has been poorly treated by the art establishment. This is true, but it is not necessarily the fault of that establishment. It is more the nature of the artist's output which has been the inhibiting factor and his own desire to shy away from the traditional path and set a unique course.