A Review of Jay-Z's New Album...Cover

Posted over 2 years ago

The Last Psychiatrist proclaims "Jay-Z Is a Genius."

Q: What do the three red lines mean? A: Wrong.

The three red lines mean "3," as in "Blueprint 3." Ok, so why aren't they blue, like Blueprint? You should now start to suspect that what the lines mean isn't the right question (the medium is the meaning.) The question is, why are they there?

Look at the cover again.

[A making-of video] shows the musical instruments being stacked, the sculpture being constructed. Then, at the end, the designers apply red color onto the sculpture itself.

So while it looks the lines were digitally added, and it would have been much easier to digitally add them, they're actually on the instruments. They're actually real.
***
While this style of art has been around for centuries, today it carries a different implications: it is always conscious of the existence of CGI.
***
What does it say, however, that this technique is regularly found in commercial art?

It says the same as Jay-Z wants it to say: "if this packaging art is real, then for sure the product inside is completely real. And the artist is 110% authentic."

But this kind of authenticity is the most manipulative kind of fakery, because "the illusion" masking the reality only occurs if seen from one specific perspective, chosen by them.

A fun read, but you do have to wonder if Jay-Z really put that much thought into the cover. Did anyone put that much thought into the cover? Or was the photographer just the "It" guy of the moment?

Comments (1)

  1. Jonh Ingham says

    You'd be surprised how much meaning artists can and will put into their covers. I can easily believe Jay-Z is saying exactly what all that hoo-ha up above is describing about 'being real'. Whether Jay thought it up in the first place is of course a different matter.

    Permalink posted 09/29/2009

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