The Andie Airfix Exhibition

From McCartney to Metallica – new exhibition to celebrate legendary designer who worked with the stars

A legendary graphic designer who worked with some of the biggest names in rock and pop is to have his incredibe career highlights exhibited in his hometown.

The Andie Airfix Exhibition will launch at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery on Saturday, 3 February.

Andie Airfix, who grew up in Culcheth, collaborated with the likes of Paul McCartney, Metallica, Def Leppard, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin over four decades before his death in 2018.

He was revered in the music industry for his iconic album covers and other treasured memorabilia such as tour programmes and posters.

Now Andie’s extraordinary but little known story and a retrospective of his work is coming to Warrington thanks to Andie’s brother, Tony McGuire, who is upholding his legacy.

Andie’s interest in music artwork began as a teenager when he used to create his own alternative front covers for his dad James’s classical LPs when the family lived in Culcheth Hall Drive.

But after travelling around the world and a brief stint as a teacher, he actually fell into the music industry by accident after working at Country Cousins nightclub and gallery.

The owner, a well-connected and intuitive entrepreneur called Christopher Hunter, took an instant liking to Andie’s paintings from his time in India and gave him a job as an exhibitor and then venue designer.

After that, Andie was hired to revamp London’s renowned Blitz Club and it was at these venues he started to meet influential people from the record industry.

His first big opportunity came when new wave band the Thompson Twins told him they weren’t happy with the artwork for an upcoming record. Andie stepped in and gave the trio a new image for what would become their breakthrough record, Quick Step and Side Kick.

Word quickly spread about Andie’s talents and by 1983 he’d created a fresh image for Def Leppard with a striking, incendiary, convention-breaking cover for their diamond-certified album, Pyromania. He also worked with the band on their huge 1987 follow-up, Hysteria, which went on to sell more than 20 million copies.