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

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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

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  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)