Album Cover Art Show Opens At Mize Gallery In St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Sounds Good, an album cover art show, opens at the Mize Gallery virtually in St. Petersburg on Friday.

For this particular group show, three months before it launched, owner Chad Mize asked each artist to pick five of their favorite album covers. The artists created a new version of the album cover that was assigned to them by Mize out of their five choices.

The gallery did not allow its artists to create an exact copy of the original album cover, however, some covers created for the show are still recognizable. Mize created a tag next to each piece that says which original cover it is based off.

The works entered into this show include mixed media, photography and colorful paintings of album covers released by artists such as Madonna, Grateful Dead, Bon Jovi, The Smiths, Garbage and others.

"I love having mixed media in shows where it's not just painters," said Mize. "Photography is represented in this show. I love the variety of art is has. Every piece is so different."

Most of the artists who entered work into this show are from the Tampa Bay area, but there are also some pieces in it from artists who live in New York City, Los Angeles and Orlando.

Usually for a show opening, Mize says around 400 people would attend, and they'd have a bar set up outside, but during the coronavirus pandemic as he expressed keeping others safe is something very important to him, he is having a virtual opening show on Facebook and Instagram on Friday evening.

"I've been doing virtual openings since the quarantine hit," said Mize.

The first virtual showing is on the Mize Gallery Facebook Live page on Friday at 6 p.m., as Mize will show and discuss the paintings.

The second virtual showing of the album paintings is at 7 p.m., on Friday via Instagram Live on the gallery's Instagram page.

If you would like to see the paintings in person, the Mize Gallery, located at 689 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N, Unit C, is open on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Masks are required to enter the gallery, and Mize said only five people are allowed in at a time.

Sounds Good will be on display at the Mize Gallery for the month of August.

For more information about the show or Mize Gallery, visit its website.