Ian McCausland (31 March 1944 – 9 August 2022) was an Australian artist best known for his music posters.

Ian McCausland
Born1944
Died2022
NationalityAustralian
Websiteianmccauslandart.com

Career edit

Ian McCausland began his visual arts career in 1968 after winning a competition in Go-Set, an Australian music magazine.[1] After Go-Set closed in 1974, Philip Frazer took several of their creative team to a new political publication called The Digger, including McCausland as Art Director.[1]

Following the closure of The Digger, McCausland worked for Planet, a weekly music newspaper which was started by Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans.[1] The newspaper ran for two years until 1972,[2] but its founders formed Mushroom Records and McCausland joined them as the label's Art Director and designed their logo.[3][1] His first work was The Great Australian Rock Festival, Sunbury 1973, a triple LP recording of the 1973 Sunbury Pop Festival.[1] He went on to design album covers for Skyhooks, Daddy Cool, Chain, and Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, and the tour poster for The Rolling Stones 1973 Australian tour.[1]

Although McCausland designed artwork for The Rolling Stones' album Goat's Head Soup the artwork was lost in the mail.[4] A commission for their next album was rejected, with the band instead going with Andy Warhol.[1] McCausland also created the title design for the 1986 Australian film Dogs in Space.[5]

McCausland died in August 2022.[6] His work was previously featured in Ed Nimmervoll’s book Under the Covers,[7]and has been featured in exhibitions of music posters.[3][8]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Meet McCosmic!". I Like Your Old Stuff. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  2. ^ Nichols, David (2016). Dig : Australian rock and pop music, 1960-85. Portland, OR. ISBN 978-1-891241-61-1. OCLC 960638357.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ a b Edgar, Ray (14 November 2013). "Shape: Designs for life". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  4. ^ "The artist who found himself rolling in cash". The Age. 23 February 2003. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Ian McCausland". BFI. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  6. ^ Gallagher, Alex (10 August 2022). "Australian visual artist Ian McCausland, who illustrated for the Rolling Stones and Skyhooks, has died". NME. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  7. ^ Nimmervoll, Ed (1998). Under the covers : the music graphics of Ian McCausland, Graeme Webber & Steve Malpass. Performing Arts Museum. Melbourne, Australia: Electronic Pictures. ISBN 0-646-36019-1. OCLC 41130768.
  8. ^ Murfett, Patrick Donovan, Andrew (13 October 2006). "Sticky Carpet". The Age. Retrieved 19 September 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)