So, last spring, I got a call out of the blue from a number in Hawaii. Picked it up, and guess who it was? Kanye West! Yeah, the Kanye West. He wanted to know if I was up for doing some art for his new album. Truth be told, I didn’t know much about him at the time. My music taste leans more towards old-school rap, you know?
Anyway, we got to chatting, and it turned out he was a fan of my work. He’d seen some of my stuff, those grotesque, messed-up faces I’m kind of known for, and thought it would be a good fit for his album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” I thought, why not? It sounded like a fun project, and I’m always up for trying something new.
We met up a few times after that to hash out the details. He’d fly me out to his place, and we’d just hang out, talk about art, life, whatever. He’s a really interesting guy, super creative, always coming up with ideas. We’d brainstorm together, bouncing concepts off each other. It was a real collaborative process, not just him telling me what to do.
- I ended up doing a bunch of different pieces for him.
- One of them was this ballerina image, which he ended up using as one of the album covers.
- It’s kind of a weird, distorted figure, typical of my style, which I call “psychological cubism.”
- Basically, I take these imaginary characters and give them these crazy, exaggerated features, like huge eyes and messed-up limbs. But somehow, they still feel human, you know?
The Process
It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though. Some of the stuff I did was pretty out there, even for me. I mean, I’m known for pushing boundaries, but some of these images were really pushing it. There was one with a, uh, let’s just say a very explicit depiction of a certain activity, that got banned. It caused a bit of a stir, but hey, that’s art, right? It’s supposed to provoke a reaction.
Kanye, he’s got this kind of shark-like energy. Always moving, always creating, making a big splash wherever he goes. I’m more like the little pilot fish, swimming alongside, adding my own little touch to the mix. It was a wild ride, working with him. Definitely one of the most memorable projects I’ve ever been a part of. Even my early days as a punk guitarist didn’t prepare me for this!
In the end, I’m proud of what we created together. It’s a unique blend of his music and my art, something that neither of us could have done on our own. It’s a testament to the power of collaboration, of bringing together different creative minds and seeing what happens. And who knows, maybe we’ll do it again sometime. I’m always open to new adventures.
