Michael Bryan

In the world of cover art, you might say Michael Bryan started at the very top and worked his way down. It was early 1975 when he dragged his gallery art into Roy Kohara’s office at Capitol Records, where he soon found himself in the rather surreal position of working with John Lennon to create the packaging for a greatest hits album. Overwhelmed by the opportunity, he immediately submitted a cover which, in the form of an actual blueprint, detailed how to make your own John Lennon in your garage. Unfortunately, Capitol Records did not share that vision and deemed the art inappropriate. Bryan’s bitter disappointment was somewhat assuaged when John said the art was too good for a mere compilation package. He was then given the opportunity to visually create John and Roy’s concept of having mini-paintings illustrate each individual song, and so Shaved Fish was born.