Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
Rock & Pop
Lot 175TP
Coldplay: the original concept artwork by Coldplay and Pilar Zeta for the band's 2015 album A Head Full Of Dreams, Parlophone/Atlantic Records,
13 October 2020, 13:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £22,562.50 inc. premium
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Coldplay: the original concept artwork by Coldplay and Pilar Zeta for the band's 2015 album A Head Full Of Dreams,
Parlophone/Atlantic Records,
the original collage conceived and created specifically as cover art for the hugely successful album; the creation of the collage was a collaboration by the artist Pilar Zeta and Coldplay resulting in a large mixed media montage which combines childhood photographs of each band member, their children's artwork, printed card, metallic paper, acrylic paint, gold leaf, coloured pencil on paper, cut out text, all applied to a large canvas; themes include - the universe, space travel, youth, nature and community, all surrounding a kaleidoscope of colour at the centre of the design, framed and glazed, and accompanied by a copy of the album on vinyl, a signed presentation card and a letter of provenance from the band, 137in x 70in (350cm x 180cm)
the original collage conceived and created specifically as cover art for the hugely successful album; the creation of the collage was a collaboration by the artist Pilar Zeta and Coldplay resulting in a large mixed media montage which combines childhood photographs of each band member, their children's artwork, printed card, metallic paper, acrylic paint, gold leaf, coloured pencil on paper, cut out text, all applied to a large canvas; themes include - the universe, space travel, youth, nature and community, all surrounding a kaleidoscope of colour at the centre of the design, framed and glazed, and accompanied by a copy of the album on vinyl, a signed presentation card and a letter of provenance from the band, 137in x 70in (350cm x 180cm)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Generously donated by Coldplay to Oxfam for this sale. All funds raised from the purchase of this item will be used to support Oxfam's response to the coronavirus pandemic worldwide.
A Head Full Of Dreams is the seventh studio album by Coldplay. It has sold over 7 million copies worldwide and was nominated for 'British Album of the Year' at the 2016 Brit Awards. This large collage was a joint collaboration between the artist Pilar Zeta and Coldplay. It was conceived and created during album recording sessions in the band's London studio. The collage was used for the album's cover art and accompanying booklet. It also featured as cover art for all of the album's singles and as screen visuals throughout the record-breaking 'A Head Full Of Dreams' tour.
Pilar Zeta (B.1986) is an Argentinean art director, known of her surrealist ideology and experience working with music labels to create bespoke artworks. She has worked with Island Records, Big Beat Records, Ultramajic, Get Physical, Visionquest, and Fool's Gold Records. During her collaboration with Coldplay she instructed the band to include their own childhood photographs, original artwork and their children's drawings into the artwork to see what they could create. In an interview on the Coldplay's official website she discusses the project, ...Guy had this huge box with really awesome old photos that he was cutting out. And Chris would come and he would do a painting and then we'd try to include it in the collage, or he would come and paint a bit of the collage. So it was like a mix of things. And then all of a sudden, a week later we have this huge collage done...I didn't do a mock-up of how the collage would look. It was just organic.
When asked who else worked on the piece she elaborates...the band's kids came and they did all these beautiful paintings, so I wanted to include those too. So if you see the mountains of the collage at the top, the layers, it's pieces of their kids paintings that I scanned in. So it's like a mix of everything. And at the end it looked really good....The collage was not intended to be on the album cover, however on seeing the finished piece Coldplay wanted it to be incorporated in some way. By mirroring areas of the design and adding a bright multi-coloured Flower Of Life symbol at the centre, Chris was surprised at the dramatic visual and powerful meaning behind it and the band agreed it would be the cover for their up and coming album.