Art means a lot to me. You know that. Pretty much everyone who knows me knows that. Kids I teach for two days know that! I feel that the art someone makes (or for that matter chooses to display as a part of themselves- in their home or in association with something they have created like a book or a CD) says a lot about them as a person- obvious statement I know, perhaps even a bit trite, but I mean in in an actual way. Like seeing someone's artwork, for me, helps me understand them better than anything else does.
Over the years I have likewise noticed that choosing books and albums based on their covers has never let me down. Now I know that it goes against the tried and true saying, that parents and teachers everywhere cringe as I type these words, but when taken quite literally (as in judging actual books) I find that time and time again if an author or a band likes their art, and I like their art, I will also like said author or band.
Two things have recently re-brought this idea to the forefront of my mind. The first is the just-released cover of John Green's soon to be published book The Fault in Our Stars. I have to say I like the cover- its simple and quirky and doesn't spoil anything about the book or try to trick you into reading it. Its drawn, not photographed, which gives it a warmer, more personal feeling, and it seems to fit with what I expect the book to be: simple, honest, funny, and somewhat childlike. Apparently, however, many fans of John's writing are not fans of the cover, and have been quite vocal about it (as youtube peeps are wont to be). In many cases I'm sure they're just sad it didn't look more like their own cover design (yes many nerdfighters designed their own covers, no, I do not have enough room here to explain nerdfighters... watch this if you're curious), and I'm sure some of them are just complaining for the sake of it (though its not really the nerdfighter way...), but I think mostly they realize that the cover of a book (especially one which the author himself has expressed a deep love for) does in fact reflect on the insides, and that if they aren't head over heels for it, they start to worry that the book might not be what they think its going to be. In other words: though they have spent their lives being told that "You can't judge a book by its cover" they do, in fact, know this to be not entirely true... Interesting also is the publisher/author reaction to this dissapointment/upsetness whereby they are offering to have a competition throughout nerdfighteria to design the cover for the reprinting of another of John Green's books An Abundance of Katherines. It seems they too realize the importance of cover art...
The second thing that happened (just happened, like five minutes ago) is that I discovered that the artwork for my favourite band (Elliot Brood) is, in fact, all created my the banjo player and co-lead-singer of the band, Mark Sasso. This is 1) odd for me because I have loved this band for about five years and I'm not quite sure how I was not previously aware of this fact and 2) particularly odd, seeing as how they are my favourite band musically (on my bike, in the car, in the summer, in the fall, live, on cd, basically just best. yeah, just best) but also by leagues my favourite band artistically (well, by leagues I really mean that The Decemberists are a very close second, but that these two bands are leagues ahead of all the rest... incidentally I also just recently found out that all of The Decemberists' illustrations are created by the wife of lead singer Colin Meloy!).
I love this artwork. I have a limited edition, beautifully hand-made release of their album Ambassadour, which I bought the first time I ever saw them in concert, and lovingly display on my bookcase. When they're setting up for a show I peer around other concert goers to get a look at their set pieces, the bass drum image, the carved chair... The first thing I do when I buy one of their CDs is open the cover and pull out the innards to see what they've done this time (sometimes a train schedule, other times a hand written note...). I even decorated my bike helmet with Elliot Brood inspired designs. Their stuff has such a great sense of narrative (just like their music) and nostalgia (just like their music) and frontier aesthetics (just like their music) and quirkyness (wait for it...... just like their music).
I seriously love this band's artwork. Seriously. And finding out that its made by someone in the band makes me love them even more than when I thought they just liked it too.
Its kind of weird when you think you can't love something more and then get proven wrong. Of course that happens often when you read/listen to things covered by artwork you love... 'Can't judge a book by its cover' my ass...
-E
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