Floodgate Companion

Floodgate Companion

"It's that sort of artwork which looks like it was never made by anyone, it simply exists in its own realm." —Paul Pope, Battling Boy "Airbrushed insanity." —Daniel Lopatin, Oneohtrix Point Never Floodgate Companion is comprised of previously unseen artwork recalling the heyday of paperback sci-fi, experimental animation, and the outsider realm of artist-released jazz and psychedelic records. This book brings the viewer into a world uniquely Beatty's own, moving stylistically through ink drawings, digital airbrush paintings, and psychedelic op-art collage framed in asemic type to create a cosmic and immersive artifact. Robert Beatty emerged from the mid-2000s American noise music underground to become one of the most sought-after figures in contemporary album art, designing upwards of seventy-five record covers in the past ten years. His designs include award-winning album covers and logos for Tame Impala, Oneohtrix Point Never, Neon Indian, Real Estate, and Peaking Lights. In addition to album art Beatty creates installations and illustrations for publications as diverse as Lucky Peach, The Wire Magazine , and The New York Times . His artwork and design has been featured in the art comic anthologies Mould Map and Kramers Ergot . Robert was the first artist featured in Pitchfork.tv's documentary series Pitchfork Unsung, focusing on individuals who've made significant contributions to music but remain outside the spotlight. "Airbrushed insanity" -Daniel Lopatin, Oneohtrix Point Never "It's that sort of artwork which looks like it was never made by anyone, it simply exists in its own realm." -Paul Pope “Like a time machine to another dimension, propelling you through a mental plane of the past and future all at once.” –Sammy Harkham (Crickets, Kramers Ergot) "Floodgate Companion distills his obsessive nature into one svelte tome." – It's Nice That "He delights in hinting at an idea, but never truly giving it away... The images he creates are disparate in style and theme, but united by a refusal to give too much away." – Eye on Design "In this artwork, geometries and corporealities both have intrinsic life to them. Even the symbols that Beatty telegraphs onto the work, suggestive of QR codes or Braille or alien runes, seem as if they might scuttle right off the page." – Tunica "Airbrushed insanity" -Daniel Lopatin, Oneohtrix Point Never "It's that sort of artwork which looks like it was never made by anyone, it simply exists in its own realm." -Paul Pope “Like a time machine to another dimension, propelling you through a mental plane of the past and future all at once.” –Sammy Harkham (Crickets, Kramers Ergot) "Floodgate Companion distills his obsessive nature into one svelte tome." – It's Nice That "He delights in hinting at an idea, but never truly giving it away... The images he creates are disparate in style and theme, but united by a refusal to give too much away." – Eye on Design "In this artwork, geometries and corporealities both have intrinsic life to them. Even the symbols that Beatty telegraphs onto the work, suggestive of QR codes or Braille or alien runes, seem as if they might scuttle right off the page." – Tunica Robert Beatty is an artist and musician born in 1981 in Lexington, Kentucky, where he works and lives. Beatty emerged from the mid 2000's American noise music underground to become one of the most sought after figures in contemporary album art, designing upwards of 75 record covers in the past 10 years. His designs include award winning album covers and logos for Tame Impala, Oneohtrix Point Never, Neon Indian, Real Estate, Peaking Lights and countless others. In addition to album art Beatty creates installations, illustrations for publications as diverse as Lucky Peach, The Wire Magazine, and the New York Times, and his artwork and design has been featured in the art comic anthologies Mould Map, Nazi Knife and Kramers Ergot. Robert was the first artist featured in Pitchfork.tv's documentary series "Pitchfork Unsung", focusing on individuals who've made significant contributions to music but remain outside the spotlight. Taking aesthetic cues from airbrushed cosmic album art and avant garde animation of decades past, Beatty updates the style utilizing an idiosyncratic combination of digital and hand drawn techniques resulting in a timeless feel. Robert performs and records music solo as Three Legged Race and is a member of the band Hair Police and has recorded and toured with C. Spencer Yeh's Burning Star Core and numerous other bands. In 2014 he released a collection of soundtracks composed to accompany a range of video work by innovative digital artist, Takeshi Murata.