“Painting our faces”
Some of you have been asking about the beautiful V&A Magazine cover (Spring 2013 issue) that we posted a smaller version of a few days back in our magazine round up. (BOWIE WORLDWIDE PRESS BLITZ CONTINUES APACE)
The magazine was published officially today and both the cover illustration and montage on the inside of the cover are by Barbara Nessim and were specially commissioned for this edition by the V&A.
Barbara has a feature inside the mag regarding an exhibition of her own work at the V&A, but here’s a bit from the Creative Review website about Barbara’s cover illustrations:
The image on the first panel is a pastel drawing on paper. The brief referred to Mick Rock’s ‘Life on Mars’ video, and asked Nessim to create an ethereal, ghostly image – something that suggests great presence and absence while also having the qualities of a transmission from another planet.
The second portrait of Bowie is a collage that depicts a contemporary Bowie (the profile photograph is taken from Jonathan Barnbrook’s cover for the Bowie album ‘Heathen’) looking at himself through a telescope at the point at which he became a star. The quote between the images is from an essay on Bowie written for V&A Magazine by Dylan Jones.
As Creative Review points out, the wording on the inside cover is a quote taken from the essay by Dylan Jones “on the twists and turns that created the most spectacular pop musician in recent history”.
Meanwhile, Creative Review also has an excellent review with pictures of the V&A’s David Bowie is book, which we can confirm is truly a thing of rare beauty and an absolute visual feast for Bowie fans everywhere.