Edley ODowd's psychedelic designs are coming to LA: Support DISCIPLINE and get yourself a copy of the LIMITED ART CATALOGUE or snag any of the amazing perks!

Edley ODowd has been quietly invading our minds for over the last two decades; his designs have graced the covers of some of our favourite albums, and his musical projects have been blowing minds for even longer than that. We sat down with Edley to talk to him about this campaign supporting his first ever solo exhibition, Opening December 01, 2016 at the Lethal Amounts Gallery in downtown LA.

Over the years you have been involved with so many projects, how did you get involved with Psychic TV?

Genesis' late wife Lady Jaye was my childhood sweetheart, we grew up in New York together. One night in 1995, she called me in a flurry and told me that the person she wants to spend the rest of her life with was in a horrible accident and that she was moving to California. Eventually she moved back to her old building here in NYC, and wanted to see me.

 It was summertime and we were sitting outside on the hood of her car catching up for hours. When I finally went inside my answering machine was full of messages, someone looking for Lady Jaye. “is this Edgaa? Im looking for my bunny, I want her to come home” I realized that it was Genesis. S/he continued to talk until the tape ran out, it was surreal.

I decided that I would call he/r back to let h/er know that Jaye was ok. We ended up talking on the phone for over an hour and we hit it off right away. We started hanging out, having dinner parties. Gen, Lady Jaye and I, as well as ten of our most interesting friends.

At this point Gen and I had only worked together on a handful of things, I would design posters and flyers for h/er various projects. I got involved with helping create ephemera for the Pandrogyne project, and then started designing art for PTV re-issues. At the end of Toilet boys, I started to think about how I wanted to start a new musical project. I kept saying to Gen, why don't you keep doing Psychic TV?

There was a club night at the time called Squeezebox in NYC where all these amazing things would happen at 3am. There were drag queens performing with live rock bands, all this amazing shit. Sometimes really stellar people like Mark-Almond band or Courtney love would show up to perform, and its 3am and you're watching these brilliant shows thinking, is this really happening right now? Gen had written some phenomenal stuff that had never been played live, and I just wanted to get Gen up there to blow some minds.

I kept asking Gen about the possibility of resurrecting PTV at the Squeezebox and s/he eventually said s/he would do it, only on the understanding that I would make it happen and she could just show up and perform. All Gen wanted to do was get up there and sing, s/he had no interest in running a label or managing the band. I think in some way Gen was trying to call my bluff, thinking I wouldn't put the work in.

But you did manage to get PTV3 off the ground!

Yeah well, we never made it to Squeezebox before it stopped running, but we booked a concert for Psychic TV in a bar called The Coral Room- an underwater themed bar with human fishtanks. I put together a band, chose a set list, at this point this show was over 2 months in the making.

December of 2003 was supposed to be our first show as the newly formed PTV. We got hit with the largest snow storm NYC has ever seen. It took us all like 4 hours to get there on what normally would have been a 45 min drive, we thought no one was going to come and it was going to be a total disaster.

As we drove up, standing in the piles and piles of snow waiting for us, there were 500 people lined up around the block waiting to get in. Thats when PTV3 was born. We have been playing shows ever since.

And then this is when you decided to start a label?

We started Angry Love. It grew purely out of the need for a way to release our music where we didn't have to license it out and loose creative control. We had some extra recordings from a session I liked, and I thought, I am gonna try to release this myself. Ryan Martin, from Dias Records taught me a lot. We made a run of short pressings with limited patches and stamps and hand written insert from Gen... They sold-out right away. Thats when I realized we had really hit the proverbial nail on the head. We were working so hard to make something meaningful and to be in control of the material and to our community. Our supporters have always been so involved and interested in helping keep our grass-roots ways of creating alive and well.

So you have told us about your life as a musician-turned-producer, but could you tell us a bit about your background as a designer?

I graduated from Purchase College in New York and have over 25 years of experience in design. In addition to being owner and principal designer for my company, Edward ODowd Graphic Design (est. 1997), I have taught several courses at my alma mater; Purchase College, as well as Parsons School of Design in New York.

In class we would try to be cognizant of how we see the world, to draw and sketch graphically. We would try to see shapes and document how we perceive the things around us. Before Photoshop everything was based on photos or sketches, our tools were our pencils, camera, photocopier, scissors and glue. Collaging and cutting-up, making our own designs directly from the world around us. You gotta ask yourself, whats the point of this shape/design, what does it mean? My students would come up with something and then I would challenge them to repeat it twice, six, eight times in whatever way they could imagine. what do you see happening? How does it change the way we see the symbol? How do we use the things around us to change and alter our designs? These experiences really influenced the way I approached my work with Psychic TV.

Aside from my years spent teaching I've worked for some of the top publishing companies in the USA all the way to the local business next door. Its no surprise I'm sure but I always preferred spending my time on small projects that are more hands on. I could create an image or design something and sell it off, but ultimately I like to see it through to the end, stamp the damn thing and say there, its done. I know it was made the right way from beginning to end, I know someone will get something positive from it.

We are so excited for 'DISCIPLINE' opening in December! Can you tell us a bit about the exhibition?

Discipline will be the first ever solo exhibition of my work. The show will be at Lethal Amounts Gallery in downtown LA, December 01, 2016. I am creating new works for the show as well as displaying some of the pieces that I made during 2003 - 2016 for the first time all in one place.

With this exhibition I want to explore the relationship between iconography, pattern and design. I think that design is a conduit for creating a powerful cultural shift and over the years I have been creating works that grow and evolve as we evolve; a memetic spiral outward from the place where it all began. It's matching this concept of design and graphic repetition to a kind of religious rite. It's sacred art on many levels.

It's more than just creating an image, as this repetition gives power to a symbol, to an idea. I want to explore the application of pattern and graphic to everyday objects. Can we transform something mundane into something other-worldly using these symbols that have taken on their own life and their own power? Can these objects influence the way we interact with a space?

The Psychic cross is the focal point of everything. Thats where it all began, it's at the center of the spiral.

Gen once sat me down and showed me the way that I would build my relationship with the cross as a unifying symbol. My version of the cross, the wire-frame cross came to me in a dream;

In the dream I climbed into a massive geometric shape and was exploring the inside of it, noticing the different angles of its towering, skeletal form. When I climbed out of the mass and walked backwards from it I noticed that it was in the shape of the Psychic cross, taking up a realm in space and stretching through all these different planes.

I woke up and immediately went to my desk and began sketching, Drawing these iterations of a new, dimensional cross.

The very next day I was offered a print deal from one of our friends and artists in Berlin. I had him print the design onto some t-shirts and we sold out of them immediately; people really resinated with the design. We used the Wireframe Cross on the cover of our next album, Mr. Alien Brain VS the Skin-walkers.

What can your supporters get if they contribute to making your exhibition happen?

Please note: We are taking pre-orders for the perks such as the shirts and catalogue. We will upload more photos of the product once they arrive to our studio. The first perks will begin shipping on approx. Dec 15, 2016.

And there is art Catalogue available for DISCIPLINE: The art of Psychic TV: 2003 – 2016!

The catalogue is being made specifically for the exhibition, it will showcase all the artwork from Psychic TV from 2003 until now. It's a beautiful 6x9" hardcover book that includes a forward written by Genesis P-Orridge. There are only going to be 323 printed! You can get a copy as one of the perks for contributing to this campaign, or if you are lucky you can get one at the LA show in December.

Why are you asking for support through indiegogo?

It's always been with the support of the community that I have been able to come this far without losing sight of whats important. That is how PTV has established such a strong relationship with our supporters and fans. Thats why I want to find funding this way, away from a commercial avenue. It's all about asking the community for support to create more art, and continue growing and evolving.

So here is the big question; Where does the support go?

I am asking for $10,000 which will cover all production costs such as framing, printing, shipping, installation and print media. It will also cover the costs of manufacturing and printing the art book, as well as travel between NYC and LA for the Exhibition and transportation costs to various studios, as well as to our main manufacturing studio in Berlin.

I really hope to reach this goal, and if we could exceed it the book could go into its second print, and we could have more exhibition dates, more special releases and super limited Perks!

What does it mean to you to have this kind of support?

I started creating work because of these friendships; you collaborate and create alongside such brilliant people and then suddenly here you are, 12 years down the line with enough work for an exhibition. It really shows how many people appreciate the work I have made, and It is a such an honour to have my art recognized, not only as design but as contemporary art.

For the first time ever in my life I am bearing my soul, presenting my work as a solo artist, so the support that I get from the people around me will help me present my work the way it should be.

Thank you in advance for any and all support. Thank you for considering this a worthwhile endeavour. If you can, please don't buy that frappucino from starb*cks this week, and instead support what is going to be a fantastic exhibition, and get yourself some amazing and limited art in the process!

How else can we support the show?

You can share this indiegogo page on your Facebook, show off pictures of your perks on instagram, tag me! Share to your blog, tell your friends! Write about the show, or feel free to contact me directly through indiegogo or on FB with any opportunities or ideas. There are tons of ways we can make this Exhibition a huge success! 

Edley's first ever solo exhibition opens at Lethal Ammounts Gallery in downtown LA, December 01, 2016. Contribute and get any of the limited artwork or pre-order an art catalogue!