The vibrant and occasionally outrageous cartoons of Wilfred Limonious decorated the sleeves of many reggae music records, in particular of dancehall vinyl records. He was one of Jamaica’s most prolific graphic artists, working both for the island’s music industry as well as a newspaper cartoonist.
Wilfred Limonious was born in 1949 in Albert Town. He studied graphic design at the Jamaica School of Art (today called Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts). He published his first comic strips on the Jamaican daily newspaper, The Star, and his characters such as ‘Chicken’ and ‘Amos’ became particularly popular. During the 1970s he became the home illustrator for the Jamaican Movement for the Advancement of Literacy (JAMAL).
In the 1980s and 1990s he worked on illustrating more than 132 LP jackets for labels such as Jammy’s, Studio One and Midnight Rock. The vinyl covers by Wilfred Limonious are unmistakable: his drawings look like comic strips, complete with speech balloons written in Jamaica’s patois dialect.
Among his notable works are the record covers of Jah Thomas’ ‘Shoulder Move’ (1983), ‘Si Boops Deh’ (1985) by Super Cat, ‘Xmas Disco’ (1985) by Barrington Levy, ‘The Marshall’ (1986) by Cocoa Tea, ‘Girls Them Pet’ (1986) by Yellowman, and ‘Black Solidarity’ (1986) by Crime Act. The loose style fits the fun and relaxed atmosphere of the music perfectly, and Limonious soon became a cult figure in Jamaica. Many tried to copy his style.
Limonious even recorded a song himself, ‘Young Love’, released on the label Wax; and designed the VHS covers of the local movies ‘Hataclaps’ and ‘Fire Ina Yuh Wire’.
The Jamaican illustrator only gained more international fame after his death in 1999, at the age of 50. In 2010, authors Christopher Bateman and Al Newman started doing research on Wilfred Limonious. This led to the 2015 exhibition of Limonious’ work at the South London Gallery in the UK and the book ‘In Fine Style, the Dancehall Art of Wilfred Limonious’, published by One Love.
View more than 100 LP covers by Wilfred Limonious collected by The Interruptor
Source: Lambiek Comix – Strips