This work was commissioned by Trestle Records as the cover for Karras's release Municipal Dances - an instrumental record influenced by krautrock and electronic music.

This was the debut LP from Lukas Wooller (Maximo Park) and Matthew Swinnerton (The Rakes) under the band name Karras. A project used to explore their interests outside of their pop music day jobs. The concept for the cover came from recent explorations and works being made by Ross Downes for exhibitions in Leipzig and Cologne. The title for the record itself arrived from the graphic, which was influenced by Andy Warhol’s Dance instruction screen prints.

Being both an artist and musician, Ross Downes has always found himself bridging the gap between the two art disciplines. His recent art and music activities included compositions for large art installation projects. He contributed a piece to Mischa Kabul’s long running installation Res-o-nant at the Jewish Museum, Berlin. In 2018 he composed a lengthy work for his collaboration, with Cologne based, artist Sebastian Freytag on an ambitious light/audio installation titled Sygnal for The Museum Slaskie, Poland.

Accolades

BA Fine Art, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh.
MA Fine Art, Goldsmiths University, London.

Awards: Winner of the Heriot Watt Medal, Edinburgh College of Art.