Christophe Szpajdel

Christophe Szpajdel (; born 29 September 1970) is a Belgian-born international calligrapher and illustrator, principally known for designing band logos. His parents are of Polish origin but immigrated to Belgium before he was born. He grew up speaking Polish and French, and eventually learned English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Szpajdel began drawing at the age of 3 when he drew a praying mantis while vacationing with his parents in the south of France.

From 1981 to 1989, he attended the Institut Saint-Jean Baptiste, a Catholic primary school in Wavre, Walloon Brabant, Belgium. His parents were originally against his ambitions of becoming a calligraphist and insisted on his continual education and enrollment in a university. Although he spends over 30 hours a week drawing, he continues to work a day job as a retail assistant for the Co-op Food convenience store chain around Exeter. He has also illustrated logos for posters of such films as Mandy and Lords of Chaos (both 2018) and The Tell Tale Heart (2020). Since designing his first professional band logo for Belgian death metal band Morbid Death (featuring members that would later play in Enthroned) in 1988, Szpajdel estimates to have drawn over 10,000 logos, mainly within the black metal, death metal and dark ambient music scenes.

The significant amount of work that Szpajdel has done in the industry has led him to be nicknamed, originally by a fan in 2006, the Lord of the Logos. The book showcases a selection of 2500 of his illustrations from over the years, accompanied by photographs taken by Szpajdel. When first announced in the 2010s, the second book's title was tentatively titled Ancient Modernism; once it was picked up for publishing by Heavy Music Artwork, it was given a release date for September 2020 but was pushed back by several months. Szpajdel's illustrations and interviews have also appeared in the books Logos from Hell: A Compendium of Death and Black Metal Logos (2008, re-printed 2015; Doomentia Press), Black Metal: Beyond the Darkness (2012; Black Dog Publishing), Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult (2013, Feral House), Darkadya: The Book of Art From Below Vol. 2 (2016, Darkadya Books) and Arte Arcana (2018; Heavy Music Artwork), and have been featured in such magazine as Metal Maniacs, Metal Hammer, Terrorizer and Vice.

Szpajdel was also the subject of a documentary, appropriately titled Lord of the Logos, which explores his life and work as cult artist and his decades-long career designing logos for the metal underground. The 12-minute documentary was directed by Luke J. Hagan and had its United Kingdom premiere on 2 December 2016 at the Two Short Nights Film Festival.

Style Szpajdel has cited Art Deco, Art Nouveau and modernism as major influences in his drawing style. Artists often mentioned as influential include Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, Peter Behrens, Gustav Klimt, Timothy Pflueger, Wiliam Van Alen, Bruce Goff, Frank Lloyd Wright, Beryl Cook, Tamara de Lempicka. Abyssal Frost The Anchor Aquarium Services The Black Hand Fast Company Moonspell Night Line The Obliterate Plague Triumfall Truth Be Told Troll Tsjuder Warcrab

2010

29 January: Christophe Szpajdel Mini-Exposition, Exeter Central Library, Exeter, Devon, England 1 October: Ancient Modernism, Rogue & Vagabond, Wellington, New Zealand 26 October: Aurora Infernalis Festival, Arnhem, The Netherlands 31 October – 25 December: Macabre Exhibition, The Old Press, St Austell, Cornwall, England

2014

13 February – 15 April: Impromptu, Tobacco House, Exeter, Devon, England 22 March – 22 April: Ego Fine Art, Redondo Beach, California, United States 11 April - June: Inspired By Black Metal, Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium 19 April: Blacken the Globe Festival, Alice Springs, Australia 10 May: Crepusculum Australe Exhibition, Rosemount Hotel, Perth, Australia 6 September: Gohelle Festival, Lille, France 3–4 October: Vimaranes Metallum Festival, Guimaraes, Portugal 3–10 October: Murmures D'Outre Tombe, Nerdiest Showroom, Meltdown Comics, Los Angeles, California, United States 18 November – 2 January 2015: Jabberwocky & Extreme Metal Art Exhibition, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter, Devon, England 22 November: Metalwarzone Festival, Airliner, Los Angeles, California, United States

2015

2015: Marks of Metal, Odense, Denmark 2015: Walker's Graphic Design: Now in Production

2016

2016: Words and Pictures Exhibition, Torquay's Artizan Gallery, Devon, England

2017

17–30 September: A Journey Into The Lost Homelands Exhibition, Kafeneio Eleftheria, Drama, Greece

2018

February: The Art Of You, Artizan Gallery, Torquay, England