Legendary artist and recent Inductee into the Album Cover Hall of Fame to have works on display
The Fishers Arts Council will present three exhibits by noted JUNO Award winning artist Hugh Syme in January, February and March on the second level of The Art Gallery at Fishers City Hall.
Syme is a painter, illustrator and graphic artist. Drawing and painting began at an early age, but his formal education came from the New School of Art in Toronto and York University in York, England. He has studios in both Toronto and Indiana.
Syme
He may be best known for his artwork and cover concepts for many rock and contemporary artists and has created some of the most memorable album covers in music history. He is also an accomplished musician and has appeared on albums by Rush, Tiles, Jim McCarty (of The Yardbirds) and was a member of the Ian Thomas Band for several years.
He also created Rush’s iconic Starman logo: “Though we never imagined the band would adopt it as their key brand for decades to come, nor that it would become so internationally recognizable.”
In 2015, Syme published his 276-page signed and numbered tome, dedicated to his three daughters (“my three suns”) and celebrated 40 years as art director for the band Rush (“Art Of Rush / Serving A Life Sentence”).
Apart from producing his own ever-evolving personal body of work over the years, Syme is probably best known as the man responsible for Rush’s album cover art, which began in 1975 with Caress of Steel. He has designed and created artwork for hundreds of musicians including Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Celine Dion, Meatloaf, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Styx, Warrant, Jimmy Paige, Asia, KISS, The Band, Chick Korea, Indiana’s own Carrie Newcomer and Krista Detor, along with many more.
He is as versatile as his art, having designed and created the graphics for Steve Binder’s Elvis ’68 Comeback Special book and all ancillary elements. He has designed Meteor 17 and Fathom Events ventures with Diana Ross, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix: The Acoustic Experience, along with multiple film, television and book enterprises. He designed covers for all of Neil Peart’s books – currently completing what will be Neil’s only posthumous publication, Sports Cars of the 60’s. He has recently finish illustrating and designing Graham Nash’s new book, Our House.
In addition, Syme has worked on advertising campaigns for Accenture, Denon, Xerox, AT&T, The David Geffen Company, The Washington Post, Virgin, Bausch & Lomb, Universal Studios, Miramax, Forbes, Panasonic, Paramount, MGM Grand, Microsoft, Sony, Alpine Audio, Disney, Time Warner, Eli Lily, Pfizer, Samuel Adams Beer, and numerous international advertising agencies. He has also contributed his vision and artist style to a wide range of video game and DVD/Blu-ray packaging designs.
His January exhibit in Fishers, “The World at Large,” will feature 13 prints while the February exhibit, “Music and Cover Art,” will feature another 13 prints. In March, the exhibit will conclude with “Music Art of RUSH” with 25 prints exhibited. If COVID protocols allow, there will be a live reception with Syme from 6 to 8 p.m. on March 19 at the gallery.
Syme now lives in New Castle, where he is in the process of building a new house. His three daughters live close by. He is also a co-host of Music Buzzz Podcast, musicbuzzzpodcast.com, part of Pantheon Podcasts – the podcast network for music lovers.
The Art Gallery at City Hall, located at 1 Municipal Drive, is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays and Saturdays during Fishers Summer Farmers Market.
For more information, visit fishersartscouncil.org.