The stark beauty found on the cover of the Beatles' 1968 self-titled album has captivated many fans, but artist Rutherford Chang likes it when the LP's famous all-white design takes on some wear and tear.
Chang has been acquiring copies of the White Album from all over the world, in any condition, for years. He prefers first-edition copies - later pressings removed the serial number and the embossed "The Beatles" on the cover - and those that aren't in mint condition. For Chang, the more owners have decorated the bare white cover with their own artwork, the better. Various stains are okay, too.
“I was interested in the different ways that the covers aged,” he told The New York Times. “Being an all-white cover, the changes are apparent. The serial numbers made collecting them seem natural, and the more I got, the more interesting it became. As you see, many of them are written on, and each has a story. The accumulation of the stories is part of it. But it’s also about how the physical object — the record — just doesn’t exist anymore.”
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com