Cal Schenkel | |
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| Born | Calvin Schenkel (1947-01-27)27 January 1947 (age 78) |
| Known for | Graphic designer, illustrator, advertising illustrator, album cover designer, comics artist, animator forFrank Zappa. |
Calvin "Cal" Schenkel (born January 27, 1947,Willow Grove, Pennsylvania) is an American illustrator, graphic designer, animator and comics artist, specializing inalbum cover design.
He was the maingraphic arts collaborator for rock musicianFrank Zappa and was responsible for the design of many Zappa album covers. Schenkel's work is iconic and distinctive in style, a forerunner ofpunk art and thenew wave era.[1]
Schenkel was born inWillow Grove, Pennsylvania, on January 27, 1947, and grew up inOreland, Pennsylvania. He attended thePhiladelphia College of Art, but withdrew after one semester and set out to build a career.
In 1967, Schenkel relocated toNew York City, where he was an unemployed artist. He was introduced toFrank Zappa by his then girlfriend, singer Sandy Hurvitz, later known asEssra Mohawk.[2]
Schenkel's artwork, influenced at first by the comic stripKrazy Kat and byMad magazine,[1] developed its own "primitive" "ragged" surrealist style.
In 1976, Schenkel held an exhibition of his artwork in Greenfields Gallery atThe Evergreen State College inOlympia, Washington. The exhibition also featured artwork by musician Don Van Vliet, better known asCaptain Beefheart.Matt Groening, creator ofThe Simpsons, saw the exhibit and was an Evergreen student at the time.[citation needed]
Schenkel started working forFrank Zappa in 1967. Schenkel recalled:
"When I first met him [Zappa] in New York, the art studio was in his apartment — but that was only for a brief period. I didn't actually live there [as widely reported], but I would commute to work at his place. When we moved to LA . . . he had rented the log cabin, I had a wing of it. It was my living quarters and art studio, which I rented separately from them."[2]
For over a decade, Schenkel, working in either an annex of the Zappa household or in his own studio, attempted to give visual form to Zappa's music while developing his own, distinctive style. "I love naïve and folk art, art that has an unfinished look. I don't like the polished for the most part. Now what that means or where it comes from I'm not sure. But I was probably influenced graphically by artists I saw in school. And of course there's the comic book look — likeKrazy Kat. A part of it was just lack of skill, trying to take advantage of my own naivety. I'd really only had a semester of art school, so I hadn't evolved my style when I was doing all of this. It just comes natural, too."[2]
The first large Zappa project he worked on was the cover forWe're Only in It for the Money, a parody ofthe Beatles' albumSgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Schenkel built plaster figures, helped set up the staging for the photo (at Zappa's direction), and put together the collage of people in the background.[3][1] Schenkel also made advertising comics published in comics magazines, which promoted Zappa's latest releases.[1] Some of these comics have been made available in Michel Choquette's compilation bookThe Someday Funnies.[4]
Schenkel worked on album covers forStraight Records, a label owned by Zappa and managerHerb Cohen. The records were byLenny Bruce,Tom Waits,Tim Buckley and Captain Beefheart.[1] ForTrout Mask Replica Schenkel went to a local fish market to buy thecarp head that he wanted to use on the album cover. He hollowed out the head leaving just the face, like acarnival mask.[5]
Beefheart instinctively picked it up and held it to his face and sat for over two hours while Schenkel took photographs. Inside the mask the smell was choking and intense but the Captain was good-natured about the whole process. At one point Beefheart picked up asaxophone and started to play something "raw" through the mouth of the stinking fish. Schenkel has film of the carp playing sax.[6] The artwork for Zappa'sBurnt Weeny Sandwich was originally intended for anEric Dolphy album.
Schenkel provided vocals for Zappa's albumLumpy Gravy and was production designer for the film200 Motels.[7] He created animations accompanying the songDental Hygiene Dilemma/Does This Life Look Interesting To You? in the film.[1] He can be seen in the Zappa moviesUncle Meat andVideo From Hell.[1] The inspiration and title for the track "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)" (fromThe Grand Wazoo) was from an incident as related by Schenkel to Zappa.[8][1] When Zappa came to register his sonDweezil's name, the hospital refused the unusual name. Zappa instead used a list of friend's names that came to mind: Ian Donald Calvin (after Schenkel) Euclid.[9]
By 1976, Zappa's output had slowed while he was in dispute with Cohen andWarner Bros. Records. Schenkel returned to Willow Grove hoping to jump-start an art career separate from Zappa and the record industry. There he began his own "mail order" art business.[1] In the 1980s Schenkel resumed occasional work on Zappa projects.
In 2012, Schenkel appeared on the television programHistory Detectives. He was asked to comment on a re-discoveredcollage, made in the early 1960s. With the help of Schenkel and others, the piece was authenticated as an early Zappa artwork. Schenkel illustrated the cover toHoward Kaylan's autobiographyMy Life with the Turtles, Flo and Eddie, and Frank Zappa, etc..[10]
Frank Zappa and/or The Mothers Of Invention:
Captain Beefheart:
Fugs:
Tom Waits:
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