Best Art Vinyl Returns to The Hari

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We are delighted to once again have the Art Vinyl display, an incredible collection of record cover artwork in our window, for their Best Art Vinyl Award 2024.

The display shows the 50 shortlisted best album covers for the annual Art Prize, showcasing the most creative and well-designed record cover of the year. The final 50 nominees were shortlisted by an expert panel, representing the world of vinyl sleeve art past and present and collectively responsible for literally 10s of millions of iconic images found in households around the globe.

A melting pot of artistic talent with decades of experience in the world of album art and credited with album artwork for music artists including Kate Bush, Blur, Paul McCartney, Elton John and Michael Jackson, gathered to inspect each of the submissions for this year’s art prize to whittle down the outstanding cover art submissions to just 50 final nominees.

FINALISTS

1st - Artwork by Rajni Perera for ‘Love Heart Cheat Code’ by Haitus Kaiyote

The first place artwork by Rajni Perera is for the fourth studio album, ‘Love Heart Cheat Code’ by Australian jazz/funk band Hiatus Kaiyote, released by Brainfeeder.

Perera’s work explores issues of hybridity, futurity, ancestorship, migrant and marginalized identities/cultures within the symbolistic style of her painting. Perera explains that the work on the album cover is about, “acknowledging the sacred female energy that drives this universe and restores balance to it. Even by painting it I have been blessed.”

On hearing of her success Perera said, “Thank you so much for this award. I have so much love for Nai (Palm) and Hiatus Kaiyote, their skill as artists, their generosity in sharing their gifts, and their incredible work. Thank you for this honour.”

2nd – Artwork by Lulu Lin for ‘Romance’ by Fontaines D.C.

Second place is the artwork for ‘Romance’, the fourth album by Dublin band and 2024 Glastonbury Park stage headliners, Fontaines D.C. and is released on XL Recordings. The band licensed a series of Taiwanese artist Lulu Lin’s work for use across their ‘Romance’ album campaign. Lin’s body of work uses bold colour, adopting a bright, electric palette dedicated to distorted, stretched and warped faces, producing visuals to become just as iconic as the album itself.

Lulu Lin took up drawing as a child, as an escape and to lift their spirits, and went on to gain their Batchelor’s degree in industrial design at Shih Chien University, Taiwan before completing a Masters in communication design at Designskolen Kolding, Denmark. During this time Lulu Lin officially launched their illustration career.

3rd – Photography by Louis Browne for ‘Sentimental’ by Carlita

In third place is London born, now New York based, photographer and director, Louis Browne for his cover photography for Turkish-Italian DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist Carlita (real name Carla Frayman) and her long-awaited debut album ‘Sentimental’, released on 15th November on Ninja Tune.

Louis Browne, known for his eclectic approach to visual storytelling, brings a unique sensitivity to the album artwork, which perfectly complements Carlita’s reflective vision. The cover image encapsulates Carlita’s musical shift, moving away from the high-energy aesthetics and instead, embracing a softer, more nuanced visual language. Carlita has described her debut album as “a reflection of my inner world” and the album artwork perfectly translates Carlita’s exploration of “the beauty found in the sentimental moments” of her life, into a visual experience.

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Best Art Vinyl Returns to The Hari