Jackie Jackson and Kadir Nelson talk about the Michael album cover design
Jackie Jackson, Michael’s older brother, and Kadir Nelson, the artist behind the cover design for Michael’s new album, sat down for a conversation with USA Today:
In 2003, when Michael was busy recording the song One More Chance, his studio eyes fell on a painting of Marvin Gaye. He immediately picked up the phone and ordered Kadir Nelson to create a painting—and, of course, emphasized that it should be bigger than Marvin’s painting. Nelson explains: "Michael said... ‘Draw one about me too, but I want it to be bigger.’..."
Jackie, with a wide smile, explains: "That was his habit—he liked big things."
But with the arrival of the accusations, the design was put aside and forgotten. Two weeks after Michael’s death last July, the King of Pop Foundation commissioned Nelson to create this 9 by 4.5-foot painting.
In this painting, a spaceship that recalls Michael’s storybook moment in the 1982 audio book E.T. can be seen, along with a golden gavel for an auction ceremony floating in the space of the painting—an indication of the unpleasant era of his court case.
Michael’s children—Prince, Paris, and Blanket—appear in several places in the painting. In one spot, they are sitting next to Michael, who is holding a water gun. Jackie says the water gun is still one of the Jacksons’ favorite pastimes.
With his mouth closed, Jackie laughs: "You have to be very careful. Nobody cares what clothes you wear."
Nelson has also painted some of Michael’s famous friends, but Elizabeth Taylor is the big absence from this work. Jackie shakes his head: "Even though Michael did all that for him!" ... Jackie says with regret that Elizabeth rejected the proposal. Madonna, Oprah Winfrey, and Debbie Rowe also did not grant legal permission to use their likenesses in this piece.
Nelson says the crown fish drawn on his head inside a bubble has a special meaning:
"Michael was a people’s character. He was public. He lived like a fish in a fishbowl."
To create the dominant face in this painting, Nelson had an aristocratic idea. He armored Michael and placed his hand over his heart, because:
"In everything Michael did, he put his heart into it."
Jackie points to a bus in the painting: "It was icy, and we were going to Chicago. We carried the music equipment from the bus and slid on the ice."
Jackie continues that Michael loved snow and skiing, but he never learned, because he was a dancer and was afraid his body would be injured by doing it.
Source: eMJey / USA Today
In this painting, a spaceship that recalls Michael’s storybook moment in the 1982 audio book E.T. can be seen, along with a golden gavel for an auction ceremony floating in the space of the painting—an indication of the unpleasant era of his court case.
Michael’s children—Prince, Paris, and Blanket—appear in several places in the painting. In one spot, they are sitting next to Michael, who is holding a water gun. Jackie says the water gun is still one of the Jacksons’ favorite pastimes.
With his mouth closed, Jackie laughs: "You have to be very careful. Nobody cares what clothes you wear."
Nelson has also painted some of Michael’s famous friends, but Elizabeth Taylor is the big absence from this work. Jackie shakes his head: "Even though Michael did all that for him!" ... Jackie says with regret that Elizabeth rejected the proposal. Madonna, Oprah Winfrey, and Debbie Rowe also did not grant legal permission to use their likenesses in this piece.
Nelson says the crown fish drawn on his head inside a bubble has a special meaning:
"Michael was a people’s character. He was public. He lived like a fish in a fishbowl."
To create the dominant face in this painting, Nelson had an aristocratic idea. He armored Michael and placed his hand over his heart, because:
"In everything Michael did, he put his heart into it."
Jackie points to a bus in the painting: "It was icy, and we were going to Chicago. We carried the music equipment from the bus and slid on the ice."
Jackie continues that Michael loved snow and skiing, but he never learned, because he was a dancer and was afraid his body would be injured by doing it.
Source: eMJey / USA Today