Nick Mason, drummer of Pink Floyd at

Storm Thorgerson & Shamineh Ali Khan

Film maker Roddy Bogawa

“A lot of what I do is real.” Storm Thorgerson says. “I build the scenes I use in the pictures. I do not use computer generated images. I’m in some ways a performance artist with sculptural aspirations, with a fondness for land art, weird stunts, surprises and exstallations, with occasional surrealist overtones, ambiguity and humour, if I can muster it.”

 It is nearly impossible to hear the titles of Pink Floyd albums without thinking simultaneously of their cover designs. Each captures, with a brilliance increasingly rare in album design, central ideas expressed by the music. The link between the cover design and the music is deep and abiding. This is what is meant by calling the album designs ‘iconic’. What may be less obvious is that the album designs are derived from works of art which, in their own sphere, are as good as the music they represent. They stand alone as intriguing pictures.