Renowned German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans has revealed the fascinating backstory behind his iconic photograph that became the cover image for Frank Ocean's critically acclaimed 2016 album 'Blonde.' The image, which shows Ocean standing shirtless in a shower with distinctive short green hair and water droplets glistening on his skin against white tiles, has become one of the most recognizable album covers in contemporary music.
According to the Smithsonian, the photograph perfectly captures recurring themes in Tillmans' artistic work, including melancholy, intimacy, nostalgia, and queerness. However, in a surprising revelation, Tillmans disclosed that the image was never originally intended to serve as an album cover at all.
During a recent interview with Arthur Hadade, co-founder of CUR8, a social app for art discovery in London and Paris, Tillmans explained how his collaboration with Ocean initially began. The photographer revealed that their partnership started when Fantastic Man magazine, an Anglo-Dutch menswear and culture publication, arranged for them to work together on an exclusive cover story for the magazine's 10th anniversary edition.
The photo shoot itself proved to be quite challenging to coordinate, as Tillmans recounted the difficulties in scheduling. "It took a few weeks to get Frank and me together," Tillmans told Hadade. "We had several attempts, only for him to call at short notice. 'Something came up, I can't come.'" Eventually, Ocean made the commitment to travel overnight from London to Berlin to meet with Tillmans for what would become a historic photo session.
"And in the end, he drove all the way from London through the night to Berlin to arrive in the morning and was suddenly there. And we had a really productive, great day of shooting," Tillmans recalled. The photographer described their collaboration as highly successful, with both artists working together to create compelling imagery.
However, the story took an unexpected turn when Fantastic Man magazine encountered legal obstacles. The publication received a letter from Ocean's lawyers in Los Angeles, effectively preventing them from using any of the photographs that Tillmans had captured during their session. This legal intervention meant that none of the images from what had been intended as an exclusive magazine feature could be published.
The photographs remained unused until Ocean reached out to Tillmans approximately one year later with a different proposal. "He vetoed any pictures of this set to come out in Fantastic Man. But a year later, he got in touch and said, 'Can I use this for the cover of my next album [Blonde]?' Which, of course, was the summer of 2016," the photographer explained.
The collaboration between Tillmans and Ocean extended beyond just photography into the realm of music as well. Tillmans, who produces music both as a solo artist and with his band Fragile, had shared some of his musical work with Ocean during their initial meeting. To his surprise, Ocean included Tillmans' previously unreleased track "Device Control" on his 2016 visual album "Endless."
Reflecting on his unique dual contribution to Ocean's artistic output, Tillmans noted the remarkable nature of their creative partnership. "So I had music on the first album and the cover of the second," he told Hadade, highlighting the fascinating role he played across different mediums in Ocean's body of work. This cross-pollination of artistic disciplines exemplifies the collaborative spirit that often defines contemporary creative partnerships between visual artists and musicians.
