Roger Waters Had ‘Strange Marriage’ with ‘The Wall’ Cartoonist
Renowned British artist Gerald Scarfe recalled the “strange marriage” he shared with Roger Waters as the pair worked on iconic Pink Floyd album The Wall.
Scarfe, best known at the time as a political cartoonist, said he’d found himself “befuddled” when he was asked to invent visual versions of the characters in the 1979 LP, although he added he’d been satisfied with the results.
“I had to create all the characters – the wives, the mother, the teacher and all these semi-cartoon figures — very quickly because the album was coming out,” he told Uncut (via Music News). "The band were in the south of France and I kept flying down to meet them. I actually designed the album cover on Roger's kitchen table.”
He continued: “As a visual artist, The Wall was fascinating for me because there was so much to dig into and explore. All the images were out of my head. Roger was the originator, but my drawings were my translations of his visions. He had his own views, but he accepted what I did. It was a strange marriage really, but we became very close friends.”
He remembered the associated stage show as “incredibly ambitious, with my original illustrations turned into inflatable puppets,” and described working on the movie version of The Wall as “tough and very difficult,” although the whole experience had been “fascinating.” He added: “Looking back, I'm amazed that it has become what it has. It's an iconic piece of work and I'm proud that allying my visuals to their sounds seemed to work. To this day I still get emails and commissions from Pink Floyd fans all around the world.”
Pink Floyd Solo Albums Ranked
You Think You Know Pink Floyd?