Animals

The Animals limited edition print was one of the very first selection of Pink Floyd album cover designs to be revisited and re-envisaged as an art print by Storm Thorgerson at the very beginning of this century.

It is a stunning, richly coloured silkscreen print which honours both a keystone moment of Pink Floyd and Hipgnosis history, and a landmark building which has secured a fond place in the hearts of Londoners old and young.

The inflatable pig was about 30ft long and 20ft high, and it was brought on site, to the wonderful 1920s architecture of Battersea Power Station by the River Thames, just upstream from the Houses Of Parliament.

On day one, the pig remained on the ground neither inflated nor elevated. The initially reluctant pig made a rash break for freedom in the blue yonder on day two. Up from the power station and into the flight path to Heathrow Airport went the animal, en route for the media headlines and home in time for tea. Retrieved from a Kent farm and its bacon saved, the pig again faced the photographers and a film crew, now with a helicopter ready.

The finished artwork comprised a real inflatable pig in position on day three, with a real background from day one, when the sky was at hits most dramatic.

“despite this minor comping of pictures, this minor sleight of hand, the principle of doing it for real served us well. At times the whole event had a ludicrous and spinal tap feeling to it, especially when faced with newspaper headlines blaring out that airline pilots were seeing flying pigs (had the world gone mad?). It was only by staging it for real that the essential dynamics of the building and the beauty of the dramatic sky were captured; a majestic background for a majestic pig. How splendid, how absurd, how Rock’n’Roll.” Storm Thorgerson

Animals rose (appropriately) to No.3 on the Billboard chart in February 1977. This silkscreen, printed on Somerset enhanced paper by the renowned Coriander Studios, has been very popular and availability is now low.

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