Tom Waits by Matt Mahurin

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Tom Waits fans, rejoice: here is a visual feast, three decades in the making. Besides offering up the fruits of his work with Waits from several photo shoots and album covers, Mahurin digs deep into his film archives to create new images of whim and fancy of one of the greatest storytellers of our time, all compiled into this lovely and unique collection. Those familiar with this icon, as well as newcomers, will not be disappointed. Recommended By Aubrey W., Powells.com

A collection of wildly inventive portraits of musician Tom Waits, the result of a 30-year collaboration with photographer and illustrator Matt Mahurin

This visually arresting book is a testament to the unique collaboration, going back three decades, between the photographer and illustrator Matt Mahurin and the musician Tom Waits.

Having shot magazine portraits, album covers, and music videos of Waits, Mahurin was inspired to resurrect 100 dormant film negatives as a jumping off point to explore his own surreal, poetic, and occasion-ally dark vision. The images vary from traditional portraits to ones that capture Waits in concert — but the majority are richly imagined scenes in which Waits is more muse than musician. In addition to the diverse images, the book includes a foreword by Waits, an essay by Mahurin on their longtime collaboration, and 20 original paintings, drawings, photographs, and digital images inspired by Waits's song titles.

"A riot of quirkiness and eccentricity, and the mood of the book, which shifts from droll humor to melancholy to gentle vulnerability, is unclassifiable — and just right." Kirkus

Matt Mahurin's work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and the New York Times. He has directed music videos for Waits, U2, Metallica, Sting, David Byrne, Lou Reed, and Joni Mitchell. He lives in California.

Tom Waits is an American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, and actor. He has won multiple Grammy Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for the original score for One from the Heart. In 2016, he received the PEN Literary Award for Song Lyrics.