monday, february 22nd, 2010
Thanks to a comment on Abduzeedo, I've learned that my recent series, The Imprint, bears an uncanny similarity to the cover art for Jay-Z's recent album, The Blueprint 3.
Update! I actually ended up on the phone about this with Atlantic Records' creative director. He designed the Jay-Z artwork himself and happens to be a super cool guy as well. He assured me that Suge Knight isn't gonna hang me off a hotel balcony, so I guess everything's cool.
Here's Jay-Z's album:
And here's one of the pieces from The Imprint:
What the hell? The exact same concept of color stripes being "projected" over white audio gear, all the way down to the damn reel-to-reel machine? And to add insult to injury, even the names are similar: The Imprint vs. The Blueprint.
Obviously the album, being released in late 2009, came before me. But in all honesty, I'd never seen it before this morning. I'm even a fan of Jay-Z, but haven't been in much of a hip-hop mood lately and never went out of my way to track it down. I actually got the idea from this YouTube video, sent to me by a coworker like a month ago:
Cube Illusion Video
I liked the idea of projecting a pattern or shape onto a plain surface, but deliberately viewing the result from the wrong angle so that it follows the geometry in erratic ways. I chose the name because the projected stripes were like an "imprint" on the image (and also because it sounded cool). In fact, I was originally going to project lettering or something typographic, but went with the stripes at the last minute because they were easier to work with.
And of course, anyone who's seen my work going back to late 2008/early 2009 knows that I love basing pieces around retro audio gear that's been broken apart or cobbled together, and that I like to throw reddish stripes on just about everything. In fact, I've had a really awesome picture of a vintage reel-to-reel machine sitting in my "Found Art/Inspiration" folder for two years now.
So anyway, I'm pretty blown away by the whole thing. I totally understand if anyone thinks I deliberately stole the idea, since I'd probably feel the same way if it hadn't happened to me—in fact, had the timing been reversed, and the album came out after my work was online, I'm sure I'd be convinced they got it from me instead—but from my perspective, this is now proof that truly astronomical coincidences are possible. Jesus Christ.
Lastly, this blog post is dedicated to Paula, to whom I say holla.
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