Edley ODowd is a New York-based graphic designer, musician and typographer. ODowd was a member of British band Psychic TV 3[1] since 2003,[2] as the drummer and designer who created all the band's album covers, records, posters, books, apparel and branding for the group, led by Genesis P-Orridge.[3] As one of Genesis P-Orridge's closest confidants, he carries on the band's legacy through books, art exhibitions and public lectures.[4]
As an artist and designer, he has designed books, album covers and exhibitions, with the most recent one at Lethal Amounts Gallery in Los Angeles in 2017 entitled Discipline: The Art Of Psychic TV, 2003 – 2016.[5]
ODowd introduced Genesis P-Orridge to h/er wife Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge in 1995.[6]
ODowd graduated from Purchase College in New York and has worked since 1997[7] on music design and has taught graphic design as a professor at Purchase College, as well as Parsons School of Design in New York, festivals like South By Southwest and museums like the Rubin Museum of Art in New York.[8]
In 2003, ODowd urged P-Orridge to rekindle her desire to perform and create music as Psychic TV.[9] It led to the duo collaborating for the next 14 years as Psychic TV.[10] ODowd is also a DJ.[11]
As a designer, ODowd's music packaging design influences include Neville Brody, Vaughan Oliver and Peter Saville.[12] "Having been trained in graphic design in an age where computers were new and considered an additional tool, rather than the only tool, when I entered the workforce, I only knew the basics of one program and 80% of the work was still done by hand," he said.[13]
His book "Discipline: The Art of Psychic TV: 2003 – 2016' was published in 2017,[14] showcasing all the artwork from Psychic TV from 2003 until 2016 with a foreword written by Genesis P-Orridge. Genesis P-Orridge once called ODowd's design work a "fastidious methodology" and "working his magic on anything and everything that might add to the unique cascade of original, ever-more-groundbreaking combinations."[15]
ODowd's design work explores the relationship between iconography, pattern and design. "I think that design is a conduit for creating a powerful cultural shift and over the years I have been creating works that grow and evolve as we evolve; a memetic spiral outward from the place where it all began. It's matching this concept of design and graphic repetition to a kind of religious rite. It's sacred art on many levels," said ODowd. "It's more than just creating an image, as this repetition gives power to a symbol, to an idea. I want to explore the application of pattern and graphic to everyday objects.[16] "
ODowd stars as a subject in the biopic The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, a 2011 film directed by Marie Losier,[17] which won a Teddy Award for Best Documentary.[18]