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CASE STUDY: How Do King Crimson Use Techniques In Their Album Art To Engage With Their Audience: BEN RODWELL

Visual Styles- BEN RODWELL

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UPDATED: CASE STUDY: How Does Paul Simon Engage With His Audience Through The Cover For 'Graceland'- BEN RODWELL

Paul Simon is an American, musician, singer-songwriter, producer and actor born on the 13th of October 1941. Originally part of the influential, musical duo 'Simon and Garfunkel', Paul Simon began his solo career in 1970 at the peak of the duo's popularity and went on to record 13 studio albums. During his time working with Art Garfunkel, Simon wrote nearly all of the duo's material including the three  No. 1  U.S. : "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge over Troubled Water" and went on to highlight his impressive song writing and guitar playing capability through his solo career. 'Graceland' was Simon's seventh studio album, released on the 25th of August 1986.The record was significant for a variety of reasons. In the 80's Simon's solo career was in a lull following the break up of his marriage and the commercial failure of his album 'Hearts and Bones'. In the wake of this, Simon became interested in South African township music and travelled to Johannesburg for two weeks to record the album with South African musicians. The album caused controversy as Simon, by recording in South Africa, was breaking the worldwide boycott of South Africa imposed in reaction to the apartheid. Despite this the cultural and musical fusion album was an instant and major commercial hit, going on to become Simon's most successful studio album and selling over 10 million copies worldwide. "Graceland gave a human face to the perception of South Africa during the apartheid" wrote Joe Tangari (Pitchfork) in a recent, 25 year anniversary review of the album The cover art for the album was an ancient Ethiopian Christian icon taken from the Peabody Essex Museum dating from around 1500. It depicts Saint George on horseback. The use of traditional African art is significant in understanding and appreciating the themes and influences of the album itself.

As well as taking stylistic influence from traditional, African religious artwork as highlighted through the Ethiopian artwork in the centre of the cover, the album has aspects of minimalism in addition. The album features a high amount of negative spacing. The cream coloured negative surrounds the central artwork as well as the simple, classic writing. The front cover of the album in-fact features only three things; the title of the album, the African artwork and the cream coloured, negative space. The use of the negative space focuses the audiences eye on the two main aspects of the cover, the title and the art. A very well known example of a minimilist album is Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of The Moon'. The

album, similarly to 'Graceland' uses a large amount of negative space to make the impact of the artwork more intense as well as to draw the audiences eye toward one specific thing. Minimalism in album artwork is effective as it creates an eye catching, simplistic aesthetic that helps to focus the audiences eye. Paul Simon uses it to great effect in 'Graceland'. The album is instantly recognisable through its combination of blank space, relatively small African artwork and classic, traditional font. Additionally the use of a neutral, calming cream colour gives the audience and insight and clue as to the albums genre. Where as 'Dark Side of The Moon's black negative space suggests an intense, complex musical experience, the creamy, beige colour of the negative space on Graceland suggests the world music, hybrid genre of the album. It isn't intense, instead it is challenging in a more relaxed and open way.

The font used on the front cover of 'Graceland' is ITC Novarese. The front was released in 1980 and has a sleek yet classic and traditional look as a result of its small, semi-integrated serifs. Again the use of this font promotes the minimalist style of the album as a whole. As well as being sleek and classic looking, the font is also relatively thin. It stands out but also does not draw attention away from the focus of the cover; the African art. The colour of the font contrasts with the negative space on the cover. The use of a blank font on a white, creamy background stands out as the colours are opposites of each other. The placement and arrangement of the font is in keeping with the minimalist, central construction of the album artwork. The font is aligned centrally and is placed in the centre of the upper section of the cover. The font is directly above the central artwork maintaining a clean, clear style. It pulls the audience focus to the centre of the cover and furthermore on to the artwork in the middle. The amount of words used on the cover of 'Graceland' are kept to a minimum. The maintains the minimalist, simple aesthetic of the cover. The only words on the cover are "Paul . Simon" and "Graceland". This gives the audience the two most important pieces of information; the name of the artist they are listening to and the name of the piece of work created by that artist. The use of this, bare minimalist approach to writing on album covers is a staple and motif of Simon's 
album covers. For instance the style can be seen on the album cover for Paul Simon's 5th album "One-trick pony".This technique of including just his name and the name of his album cover gives Paul Simon an effective way of promoting his album in clear and concise way. His audience are likely to recognise this style and therefore engage with the album more effectively.

The focus of the cover of 'Graceland' is the traditional, 16th century, Ethiopian depiction of saint George on his horse. The album features a copy of this traditional artwork which is physically on display in the Peabody Essex Museum. The copy of the artwork is placed dead centrally in the middle of the cover. The position of the artwork dominates the cover, demanding the focus and attention of the audience. The negative space surrounding the artwork highlights its importance and makes the colours and definition of the artwork more intense. The composition and placement of the artwork as well as the font creates a symmetrical and even aesthetic to the cover. By placing the artwork centrally, not only is the audiences eye drawn toward it but also the symmetrical style of the album is better enforced. The colours and the style of the African artwork connote the hybrid, world music genre of the album and so allow the audience to better understand interpret the album. The bold red and blues of the artwork contrast heavily with the surrounding, cream coloured, negative space. This enhances the colours of the artwork, making them stand out and so further drawing the audiences eye toward it. The African artwork used on the cover of 'Graceland' takes inspiration from South African groups such as 'Ladysmith Black Mambazo'. LBM are an all male, South African acapella group who sing in traditional South African styles such as Isicathamiya and Mbube. They featured on tracks on Graceland such as 'Diamonds on The Soles of Her Shoes'. The cover of their album 'Shaka Zulu' has clear stylistic and aesthetic links to 'Graceland'. The use of traditional African artwork draws instant connections to 'Graceland' and this is furthered through the use of blank space and simplistic, minimalist text. The combination of western minimalism and African traditionalism on the cover of 'Graceland' mirrors the hybrid nature of the music.

The covers of 'Graceland' help create a constructed image of Paul Simon. The purpose of the album covers of Graceland is to portray the artist and the album in a certain way, this being the constructed image. For instance the use of neutral colours in the negative space contrasts heavily with the divide colour in the centre image pulling the focus on to that image. The image is of traditional African artwork therefore highlighting the World music genre of the album as well the cultural expertise of Paul Simon to bridge western and African Culture. The back cover of the album has picture of Paul Simon alone, wearing glasses and a jacket. Not only does the photo portray Simon as a sophisticated, intelligent artist which will show in his music, but it portrays Simon alone, without Art Garfunkel who he had been successful with before. The artwork is creating a constructed imagine of Paul Simon as cultural, intelligent and sophisticated but also alone, without the help of his long time collaborator Garfunkel. This image helps sell Simon as it creates a brand for him. He has parted from Simon and Garfunkel and has instead rebranded himself as a classier, more learned artists with different cultural influences. This image is constructed through the use of under stated colours, classic looking, classy font and an ultimately minimalist style for the cover art.

Paul Simon creates an aesthetically eye catching and visually imaginative piece of art in the cover of 'Graceland'. He combines design styles such a minimalism and African traditionalism to create a classic looking, engaging album cover. I believe that combining styles or adapting them is key to creating an engaging album cover. Using minimalism is an effective way of cratering an eye catching style as negative space pulls audiences eye towards the focal point of the cover. I could use this technique in my album cover to make sure the artwork is eye catching but also classic in its aesthetic and styling.

Audience Profile- BEN RODWELL

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