Design Studio Milk & Bone's Designer Alicia Raitt Re-Imagines All 14 of Kurt Vonnegut’s Book Covers to Celebrate His 100th Birthday
Today (11th November 2022) is the anniversary of Kurt Vonnegut’s 100th birthday, and tonight, a collection of Plymouth artists will present ‘Kurt Vonnegut, Centenary Celebration’, an exhibition featuring poetry, art, music and film inspired by the novels of this legendary author.
As part of the collective’s creative output, Milk & Bone designer Alicia Raitt has re-imagined all 14 of Vonnegut’s book covers.
Each design aims to capture the balance between beauty and despair which underpins Vonnegut’s writing. Zombie-like characters reflect his sardonic worldview and darkly-humorous commentary on American culture.
Stylistic consistency is established with a design system inspired by the classic 1960’s Marber grid, leaving the illustrations to set the scene.
“It was very interesting reading an author’s body of work in chronological order, seeing how he develops as an artist and discovering the recurrent themes that are integral to his work. One of the aspects I enjoyed most about Vonnegut was the repetition of concepts such as free will, and character cameos from previous novels that would reappear. This inspired me to incorporate reoccurring themes into the covers.”
“I have always been drawn to image-making and this project has allowed me to explore that. With each design I have tried to create an iconic image that captures the wit and essence of the novel. Some are approached conceptually, Player Piano explores how automation impacts humanity’s sense of purpose. Others like The Sirens of Titan and God Bless You, Mr Rosewater are inspired by specific snapshots of plot and character.”
The exhibition was born out of a simple book club with the ambition of reading and then discussing each of Kurt Vonnegut’s 14 novels in order of publication. The members then went on to explore a creative response to his work. This resulted in illustration, poetry, photography, music and film inspired by the novels read and the discussions had.
The exhibition will be shown for one night only at Leadworks in Plymouth on Friday 11 November. Admission is free.
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.