*** Welcome to piglix ***

David Welker


David Anthony Welker, a New York City-based artist, was born in Poughkeepsie, New York on July 30, 1964. Over the span of his career, he has explored countless medias – large-scale paintings, portraits, murals, and commercial illustration. He is probably most well known for creating the cover art for Phish’s Rift album; however, his artistic reach has extended far beyond that.

One of David’s earliest and most influential memories was when his older brother, Steve, took him to the September 3, 1977 Grateful Dead concert at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey. David was 13 years old at the time. With over 100,000 people in attendance, including New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Hells Angels, this early exposure to the psychedelic counterculture had a significant impact on David’s artistic eye and would influence his art from an early age.

David spent his formative years in New York City suburbia drawing his perceptions of what life in the city was like. He later enrolled at Syracuse University to study painting, drawing, and illustration and graduated in 1986. For the next two years, Welker continued painting large-scale works to build a repertoire. In 1988, David moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he first saw the band Phish at the Paradise Club in 1989. Also musically gifted, David took a brief hiatus from art to pursue music, first with drums and then guitar. In 1992, David moved back to New York City and began touring around the lower east side with his band. When David saw Phish again in March 1992 at the Roseland Ballroom, he connected with the lyrics/mood of Phish and decided to reach out to them artistically. This decision would forever change the course of David’s career.

At the same time as the Roseland Ballroom show in 1992, Welker’s artwork was being shown in a gallery on Broome Street in New York City. David said that the music he heard that night drew parallels to his art and that he felt he needed to reach out to the band. Interestingly enough, the song “Rift” was played that night. Welker selected two show cards from his gallery show, Staten Island Ferry and Levitator, and mailed them to Phish’s fan mail address with the message: “I would love for you to come to my show. I really enjoy your music.” Two weeks later, David returned home one day to Trey Anastasio’s voice on his answering machine asking him to return the call. Trey then explained that the band would like David to do the cover art for their upcoming album, Rift. The very next day, David drove to Burlington, Vermont to meet the band over a spaghetti dinner. Very little with regards to business was discussed, but David said it was the opportunity to be around them that day that put the wheels in motion. Over the next few weeks, David would talk several times with Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon about the specifics. David then sent them the painting Lengthwise. Trey liked it but requested that David “blue-ify” it to echo the sentiments of the concept album, Rift, which details the aftermath of a grueling break-up. David was provided copies of the lyrics for every song on the album but "Horse," which is why it is the only song not alluded to on the Rift cover art. Once Elektra Records and the band had approved the artwork, it took David a total of four weeks to complete Rift. The final version of Rift, which is an oil-on-paper painting measuring 3' x 6', was purchased by Phish in 1996 and now hangs in the conference room at Phish headquarters in Burlington, Vermont. When Phish purchased the original Rift, they also commissioned Welker to do A Portrait of Mike Gordon, which was later released as a giclee in 2006. Welker has completed several additional Phish posters since then, including gig prints for Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon's side projects. Relix magazine labeled Rift as one of the most iconic album covers of all time in 2007.


...
Wikipedia

...