"It's the end of the world, one magazine at a time... I'm part of the generation that never made anything new. Supposedly." - John Paul Thurlow
British art director John Paul Thurlow is obsessed with fashion mags. That's not unusual for someone who's worked for a decade with clients like Gucci and Elle. What's unusual is how he's channelled his lust for glossy publications into an ambitious personal project. The goal: to recreate every great magazine cover in his vast personal collection.
His exquisite pencil renderings have all the precision of a perfect copy -- except for some clever artistic interventions. Thurlow rewrites headlines, adds personal notes and changes up the imagery -- a mustache on Twiggy, a mask on Michael Jackson. "I'm taking a perfect, mass-produced item and turning it into a singular, defaced object," Thurlow writes on his "COVERS" blog.
Beyond the homage to fashion and graphic design, his reimagined covers also function as a visual autobiography. Now that he's completed his 100th cover, he's celebrating this month with an exhibition and limited-edition book.
The "COVERS" project can be viewed at johnpaulthurlow.blogspot.com. The exhibition runs to Nov. 30 at KK Outlet in London