We’ve seen that image offers a venue for communication, and for that communication to be most effective it has to use sympathetic imagery drawn from the shared experiences of artists and audiences. So what is the best way to create and consistently apply these images to a creative project? Today I’m going to discuss how I plan on defining and implementing an image for Jamboree and Echo Bloom. There are three steps to this:

Define the shared experience – The experience has to be consistent with the thematic elements of the work. Jamboree is about identity, expressed through the shared experiences of occupation and the American narrative – Echo Bloom is about process. The image has to respond to all of this – it has to show occupation and narrative intent over a range of characters, with the process visible in the final result.

Define the treatment – The treatment is a type of holistically shared aesthetic that informs all elements of a project – from the photography to the press kits (even to the way the actual recording sounds). With Jamboree I want the medium, and all the imperfections inherent to it, to be present in the final results. Photographs will be done using expired film and odd formats. The audio recording will be done using analog tape and ensemble performance. The atmosphere will be one that embraces mistakes as representative of richer, more authentic documents.

Define the application – I created Jamboree as a series of character sketches partly to offer a palette of options for defining image. This palette will be handled quite literally through a series of portraits literally representing each character study. The power they have will come when they are placed in series, creating a meta-narrative about the internal characters. They could also stand on their own, offering a suite of choices for press kits, promotional material, and other things that need to be branded.

So – time will tell if this works, but I feel it is conceptually sound – I’m looking forward to watching it…develop.

[Note - usage of the word "image" in this piece blurs between literal physical photographs and the more figurative interpretation of an artist by their audience. Any lack of clarity is intentional, as the both definitions are interchangeable in this context]

Sympathetic (adj.) – Physics. Used in reference to sounds produced by responsive vibrations induced in one body by transmission of vibrations from another. (OED)

As we discussed on Monday, images have the power to communicate. But in a broader frame of reference, ‘image’ (as a general presentation of personality) is a form of communication as well. An artist’s image is a tool for creating a relationship between that artist and their audience. But unfortunately, this tool is usually a pretty blunt instrument. In most cases, image becomes merely a venue for amplifying marketable trends – turning what should be a conversation into a monologue, and robbing images of their real power. For an image to be successful, it has to draw from shared experience between artist and audience – it has to be a sympathetic image. As you’ll see, some have it figured out and some…well…have a long way to go.

The Good

Sufjan Stevens has brilliantly defined himself as a type of nouveau American documentarian since Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lake State, the first album in his somewhat hazily planned 50 States project. A thread like this within an artist’s body of work is tailor-made for creative images, and Stevens delivers. The press shots for his Illinois album drew on the shared experiences of his middle-class suburban American audience – cheerleaders. The photography on his recently released Song for Christmas album, however, was really where his image became fully realized. Similar to his music, the new imagery has a strong narrative component. Stevens becomes the washed out father figure from the Christmas albums in every family’s living room – these are the shared images we already know, and a perfect model of sympathetic images.

The Bad

Unfortunately, the vast majority of press photos aren’t nearly as – developed. Two minutes on MySpace brought me to this picture, which is representative of the bulk of press photos: a group of people standing around, looking vaguely pensive. It fails because it’s boring, it says absolutely nothing about the character of the music, and it makes no attempt to create dialogue between the artists and their audience. It’s obviously challenging to put four or five people in a picture doing something both interesting and thematically cohesive – but this is what happens when you don’t even try. Perhaps their music is wonderful. But if I was presented with these two images and asked to pick which artist I would listen to first, you better believe I wouldn’t turn on The Pensive Quintet.

I’ve found that many artists hate talking about their image. They think it’s either self-absorbed, dry, or the first step towards selling out – nevertheless, it’s absolutely necessary for success. Visual communication and sympathetic imagery create both a brand identity and a loyalty between artists and their audience. And it doesn’t have to be a chore. Look at Sufjan Stevens: the man has his entire band dress up like cheerleaders. He’s clearly having quite a bit of fun with it.

What’s the best approach to creating an image? I’m looking forward to telling you how I’ll resolve this issue with my own project. Check back soon.

Images communicate – and if you ask Cindy Sherman, I’m sure she’d agree with you. In her Untitled Film Stills project, Sherman starred as a series of bombshells from fictional films. Through 69 black and white self-portraits, she was the burned out sex kitten – the icy sophisticate – the slinky librarian. Absent any characters other than Sherman, viewers were challenged to interpret the frames free of any surrounding context. The result was a type of visual call and response, or identity in reverse – less about the artist’s presentation, and more about the viewer’s interpretation.

Why are we talking about a photographer? Because Sherman shows images not as static pictures, but as a type of communication between image and viewer. Her images are self-conscious, and the viewer learns more about themselves by looking at them. And we should learn from that.

This week I’m going to write about image in a few of its incarnations. I thought about how to best organize this post, and after some thoughtful feedback, I’ve decided to break it into three parts. The first, this one, has introduced the concept of image as a tool for creating communication. The second will look at how this communication is used successfully and unsuccessfully by musicians and other artists. The third will talk about the consistent application of image to different components in Jamboree and Echo Bloom.

So stay tuned!