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# 10 Street Artists Remix Contemporary Book Covers
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/10-street-artists-remix-contemporary-book-covers/
- Published: 2013-07-12T13:00:48.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:47:59.000Z
- Description: Penguin UK has released ten editions of ten contemporary classics with covers all commissioned from street artists, using photographs documenting the literary-inspired work.
- Author: Allison Meier
- Tags: Books, Don DeLillo, literature, Penguin, Roa, Street Art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:59 (2012, 2013, part 2)

![Penguin Street Art Series](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/07/penguinstreetartcovers.jpg)

Art by ROA for Nick Cave’s “And the Ass Saw the Angel” and Art by DAIN for Jonathan Coe’s “What a Carve Up!” (all images courtesy Penguin UK)

Penguin UK has released ten editions of ten contemporary classics with covers commissioned from street artists, using photographs documenting the literary-inspired work.

![Penguin Street Art Series](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/07/penguinstreetart08.jpg)

Art by Agostino for Nick Hornby’s “How to Be Good” (click to view full size)

The [Penguin Street Art series](http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguinstreetart/?ref=hyperallergic.com) was launched last month, with its little literary penguin logo adorably carrying a paint roller. On the whole, they’re pretty cool, although Sickboy may have been phoning it in for Zoe Heller’s *The Believers*, and it’s awesome to see literature merging with street art.

There’s a bound and skinned rabbit by ROA for musician Nick Cave’s 1989 Southern Gothic-set novel *And the Ass Saw the Angel* on cruelty with its father figure and his animal traps, and a frenetic collage by DAIN with his signature monocle of paint for Jonathan Coe’s 1994 *What a Carve Up!* flared from the British politics of the 1980s. Some of the other selections seem a little expected for the modern “classic” choices, like Don DeLillo’s *Americana* illustrated with a a maybe-too-obvious American flag by Dr Henry Jekyll and Nick Hornby’s *How to Be Good*, although this has one of the most vibrant covers with a balloon-headed figure by Agostino.

However, it’s overall an interesting project for cover art, and Penguin has long been known for their great covers, with just a couple recent examples being [the latest censored title version of George Orwell’s *1984* ](http://also.kottke.org/misc/images/penguin-1984.jpg?ref=hyperallergic.com)or the [Penguin Ink covers](http://www.penguinbooks75.com/penguinink.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) by tattoo artists. Maybe the project could be expanded to non-contemporary classics? I’d love to see [Phlegm](http://www.phlegmcomics.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com)‘s cover for Dante’s *Inferno* or maybe get [Monsieur Chat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.%5FChat?ref=hyperallergic.com) to embody the feline character of Mikhail Bulgakov’s *The Master and Margarita*. Below are more of the Penguin Street Art Series covers, including art by 45RPM, Yok, BARN, and ESPO.

![Penguin Street Art Series](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/07/penguinstreetart02.jpg)

Iain Sinclair’s “Lights Out for the Territory” by ESPO

![Penguin Street Art Series](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/07/penguinstreetart04.jpg)

Art by BARN for Peter Ackroyd’s “Hawksmoor”

![Penguin Street Art Series](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/07/penguinstreetart05.jpg)

Art by Sickboy for Zoe Heller’s “The Believers”

![Penguin Street Art Series](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/07/penguinstreetart06.jpg)

Art by Mittenimwald for Mohsin Hamid’s “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”

![Penguin Street Art Series](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/07/penguinstreetart07.jpg)

Art by 45RPM for Joshua Ferris’ “Then We Came to the End”

![Penguin Street Art Series](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/07/penguinstreetart09.jpg)

Art by Yok for William Boyd’s “Armadillo”

![Penguin Street Art Series](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/07/penguinstreetart10.jpg)

Art by Dr Henry Jekyll for Don DeLillo’s “Americana”

[*The* ](http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguinstreetart/?ref=hyperallergic.com)[Penguin Street Art](http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguinstreetart/?ref=hyperallergic.com)[ *series*](http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguinstreetart/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is available from Penguin UK.*