Some people like to spot trains, others collect matchstick boxes from nightclubs – I collect records as art. The pleasures they bring are numerous. A warm Saturday morning spent in an old dusty second-hand shop looking for my next 'work of art' is second only to my son's smile. The record sleeve cover is as relevant as any Rembrandt or Cezanne. Like the classics (Da Vinci's Mona Lisa or Van Gogh's Sunflowers etc), LP's are valuable artistic expressions of the fashions; the people and the politics of its time -but even more than that (for people of colour) - it was a visual representation of talent and achievements. As Pablo Picasso said, 'Painting is just another way of keeping a diary'.
Above is one of my favourite 'art' piece, an iconic photograph of the queen of disco Donna Summer -'doing her thing'. Provocative and unapologetic -the image of a smooth black beauty with Afro hair, eyes closed and head tilted back in an erotic manner has all the hallmarks of Grammy award winner Erykah Badu in Tom Ford's White Patchouli fragrance ad campaign.
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