Michael Gillette channels music into his visual art

British artist Michael Gillette's new monograph chronicles a career spent channeling music into seductive visual art

(Image credit: Michael Gillette)

last updated 3 November 2022

With a career that spans three decades and a client list that includes the likes of the Beastie Boys, Paul McCartney, MGMT and Beck, British artist Michael Gillette has spent his career channeling music into seductive visual art.

From early aspirations of pop stardom, to getting his break in 1992 when he created a logo for Saint Etienne's Top Of The Pops performance, San Francisco-based Gillette has some stories to tell. Now, for the first time, an edited selection of his work has been spread across 192 pages of a new weighty monograph that chronicles this inspired career.

Called Drawn In Stereo and published by Ammo, the book showcases never-before-seen pages from Gillette's sketchbooks, music video animation stills and his magazine contributions for titles such as Spin, MOJO, Q and the New Yorker.

In addition, Lemon Jelly's Fred Deakin has supplied a foreword while Elastica’s Justine Frischmann has contributed an interview with the artist. As Frischmann herself puts it, 'Michael Gillette's work is a celebration of the fragmentary, jumbled nature of pop culture from the last half century synthesised into something that is always cheekily seductive and often heart-wrenchingly beautiful.'

Gillette has created artwork for&nbsp;the&nbsp;likes of the Beastie Boys, Paul McCartney, MGMT&nbsp;and Beck — Over the last three decades, Gillette has created artwork for the likes of the Beastie Boys, Paul McCartney, MGMT and Beck

Drawn In Stereo&nbsp;reveals various chapters of Gillette's life — *Drawn In Stereo* reveals various chapters of Gillette's life, from embracing Britpop London and rooming with Aphex Twin, to his 15 years of creativity in San Francisco

The book showcases Gillette's sketchbooks, music video animation stills and magazine contributions for titles such as *Spin*, *MOJO*, Q and the *New Yorker*

Lemon Jelly's Fred Deakin has written a foreword and Elastica&rsquo;s Justine Frischmann has contributed an interview — In addition to the visuals, Lemon Jelly's Fred Deakin has written a foreword and Elastica’s Justine Frischmann has contributed an interview

'Life needs a backbeat, and that rhythm needs some visuals. So, I’ll keep sharpening the pencils, listening for the muse to sing me a new song,' concludes Gillette in the book's introduction

INFORMATION

Drawn In Stereo by Michael Gillette, $29.95, is published by Ammo Books. For more information, visit the Ammo website

Ali Morris is a UK-based editor, writer and creative consultant specialising in design, interiors and architecture. In her 16 years as a design writer, Ali has travelled the world, crafting articles about creative projects, products, places and people for titles such as Dezeen, Wallpaper* and Kinfolk.