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The Broken Heart Invitational

In this era of downloading music, one element is often overlooked – the cover art.   This has the possibility of conveying so much about the music therein, not always an easy task.  Without the luxury of space that vinyl provided (provides), the CD format has obvious dimensional limitations.  But these limitations can also be seen as a discipline within which to work, a different way of thinking about how to achieve a visually evocative image.

heartI am quietly obsessed about discovering unusual sights to photograph as I travel around but I’m particularly interested in surfaces that demonstrate the effects that time and erosion have had on them, often producing unintended but fascinating shapes and colours that any self-respecting abstract artist would be proud of. Since someone has created it, plain Graffiti, however interesting, is of no interest to me – unless it happens to be part of a surface that has aged.  The photograph called Heart Of Stone, or sometimes Broken Heart, was taken somewhere in Poland about eight or nine years ago and I loved the way the wall had crumbled, breaking this beautiful, bright heart.  It is included in the Chiaroscuro gallery.

As you may know, the original title of the album was going to be Close Up.  I struggled to find an image to suit that idea for a long time – a tight shot of my ear?  Or up my nose?  Something to do with a camera? (Maybe I could get a Nikon sponsorship?  Maybe not.)  Eventually, I concluded that it wasn’t going to work.

heart2Then, suddenly in the middle of the night, inspiration struck; while my dreaming mind was elastic and random, I made the connection between the broken heart photograph and the song If Life Was Easy – and visualized the entire package in seconds.  After experimenting in Photoshop, it began to take shape and with some help from Travis Porter, who happens to be a graphic artist, it was done.   I have no idea of the meaning of the original words or letters; I hope it’s not too obscene.   Using the stamp tool in Photoshop I gave it the title.  Voila!

On the back is an untouched photograph called Had A Nice Day (also in Chiaroscuro) that was taken during a walk by the Rhine near Bad Zurzach, Switzerland.   These two images (along with the Happy Crisis photograph in the booklet) convey to me the emotional push/pull of the album.   I’m fond of juxtapositions.  Visual oxymorons, if you will.  Like life, really.

As for the backgrounds to the lyrics, I gathered a few distressed-wall photographs from my collection and sent the whole package off to Edel, who put it all beautifully together in its finished, printable format.  Easy – for a change.

I assume you have the CD in your hands as you read this.  If not, please feel free to purchase one, they all count!

If, on the other hand, you would like to win a specially signed copy of If Life Was Easy (don’t faint), here is a little competition…

Visualize text fragments / song titles from the album.

You can paint something, take a photograph, design a CD cover or manipulate one of the photos from the Chiaroscuro gallery to participate.  When completed, email a hi-res photograph or a scan of your work to brokenheart@rogerglover.com.  The deadline is December 31st, 2011 and the winner (or winners in case of a tie) will be announced shortly thereafter.

Do I have to remind you that it must be your own work?  Yes. It must be your own work.   By sending it you automatically give us permission to display it.   The entrants will have their work shown on this website on or about the 1st January 2012.  The judges will be Myriam Freitag, Andreas Thul and me.

Good luck,

RG

One thought on “The Broken Heart Invitational

  1. Micha? wrote on 2011-09-06:

    I’m really astonished by the fact that this photo from Your new album has been taken in my country – Poland! 😀 I don’t know why this album isn’t in Polish stores yet, so I’m going to buy it on the Net. Anyway Great Thanks to You for this Polish cover 😀 and You needn’t worry – this inscriptions aren’t vulgar 😛

    Reply