Vinyl Art, Portraits of Musicians Hand-Painted Directly Onto Their Records

Arizona-based Artist Daniel Edlen pays tribute to some of his favorite musicians through Vinyl Art, his series of portraits of musicians hand-painted directly onto their records. Edlen, who began selling the work in 2006, has taken on some of the most best-loved musicians of the 20th century, from Bob Marley, to Tupac, to Lou Reed. He began working on the series when he came into possession of multiple copies of some of his favorite records.

My mom volunteered at the local library, running their booksales. Records were donated, but wouldn’t sell. So I got them. I’d learned to draw and paint at the Brentwood Art Center. I had the idea in a high school art class to draw with white pencil on black paper. Then, because I had more than one copy of records by people I liked, I came up with the idea to paint them on the records. I did about 10 at that time.

You can purchase the work online through Edlen’s Square Market page.