Leif Podhajsky is an Australian

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

and

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

, well known for his distinctive

album art An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of and 78 ...

working with artists such as

Tame Impala Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker (musician), Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring a ...

Bonobo The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee (less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee), is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus ''Pan (genus), Pan'' (the other bei ...

Foals A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal is ...

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

Of Monsters and Men Of Monsters and Men is an Icelandic indie folk/Folk rock, rock band formed in Garðabær in 2010. It consists of lead singer and guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, singer and guitarist Ragnar Þórhallsson, Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, ...

Lykke Li Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson (born 18 March 1986), known as Lykke Li (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter, model and actress. Her music often blends elements of indie pop, dream pop and Electronic music, electronic. Her debut studio album, ''Youth ...

Toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and p ...

, The Horrors,

Mount Kimbie Mount Kimbie is an English electronic music and indie rock group consisting of Dominic Maker, Kai Campos, Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell. Mount Kimbie was formed in 2008 by Maker and Campos. The duo expanded on the musical template of the U ...

Kelis Kelis Rogers (; born August 21, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and chef. She attended Manhattan, New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she played saxophone and was selected for the Girls Ch ...

London Grammar London Grammar are an English indie pop band formed in Nottingham in 2009. The band consists of Hannah Reid, Dan Rothman, and Dominic "Dot" Major. Their debut extended play, '' Metal & Dust'', was released in 2013 by Metal & Dust Recordings; ...

and

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

. Podhajsky has emerged as a promising photographer, with his brooding

landscape photography Landscape photography (often shortened to landscape photos) captures the world's outdoor spaces, sometimes vast and unending and other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on human-ma ...

attracting a large following through his popular Instagram and Facebook accounts. In addition to creating album art, has also created artwork for a number of

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

s around the world, such as

Warp Records Warp Records is a British independent record label that specialises in Electronic music, electronic, indie rock and experimental music. It was founded in Sheffield in 1989 by Steve Beckett, Robert Mitchell and Robert Gordon. It has released recor ...

Modular Recordings Modular Recordings (known simply as Modular) was an Australian record label founded in 1998 by Steve Pavlovic that by 2015 was owned by Universal Music Australia. It has released music from local artists such as Eskimo Joe, Ben Lee, The Ava ...

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

and

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

, with tour posters, T-shirts and other merchandise. Podhajsky's work explores themes of connectedness, love, fear, magic, the relevance of nature and the psychedelic or altered experience, and uses techniques such as

pattern A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated l ...

recursion Recursion occurs when the definition of a concept or process depends on a simpler or previous version of itself. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in m ...

, balance,

symmetry Symmetry () in everyday life refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, the term has a more precise definition and is usually used to refer to an object that is Invariant (mathematics), invariant und ...

and repetition. By utilizing these subjects he attempts to "coerce the viewer into a realignment with themselves and their surroundings".

Tame Impala

Podhajsky has also worked with Australian

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

project

on numerous occasions, creating art for his album '' Innerspeaker'' and its follow-up '' Lonerism'', and also creating art for his singles " Solitude Is Bliss", " Lucidity", " Expectation", " Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?", " Apocalypse Dreams" and "

Elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

Style

Podhajsky's work has been described as "striking abstractions of nature – mirrored vistas, engulfing waves, rippling, melting cosmic landscapes". Conceptually, Podhajsky believes "the concepts I explore are universal to all humans and I believe we have lost touch with a lot of these in our modern lives. We're all secretly searching for answers to true happiness and contentment." Podhajsky's personal philosophy on working with musical artists is "I try and work with artists who I respect - whose music I would want to listen to. A lot of albums that have my work on them are on solid rotation. Ideally I like to spend a lot of time with the music working out a story and concept which I can capture the whole albums feel and flow." Podhajsky also uses album art to "create one image which encompasses an entire album of story and emotion". Music also inspires Podhajsky in "not just work for record labels or bands, but across everything I do. I find it helps me turn the part of my brain that over analyses and makes things logical switch off. This helps as it lets me form compositions in a more natural and fluid way, so it felt really organic to begin creating artwork for musicians. I have always loved album art and think it can really add to the whole experience of an album."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Podhajsky, Leif Living people Australian graphic designers 20th-century births People from New South Wales Australian art directors Australian people of Czech descent Year of birth missing (living people) Australian album-cover and concert-poster artists