Painter and Hi-Fructose contributor Nathan Spoor recently collaborated with the alternative rock band Coheed and Cambria to create a new series of 18 paintings
that illustrate their new concept album, The Afterman. Focusing on a character that travels to different dimensions and experiences others’ lives through different souls, the album’s inventive subject matter allowed Nathan to experiment within surreal landscapes. Nathan and the band’s singer Claudio Sanchez met daily for nearly three months to bring the songs into the visual realm. More information about the concept behind each song and painting can be found on Coheed and Cambria’s YouTube page.
Having grown up in a musical family, Nathan experiences music and visual art as interconnected. “There’s a wavelength that music and fine art connect on, a harmonious vibration of our spirits and souls that becomes stronger when embraced. I believe music has the power to directly connect with one’s inner being and lift us from whatever common place we find ourselves in, and art has that power as well,” he explained. “Yet with art, painting, it seems that the visual nature of it commands the power of capturing the orchestrations that music fills within one singular moment. It is somewhat of a three-part harmony created by the visual, the lyrical and the physical. The artwork is the visual component and the music is the sonic element, then when the viewer enters into the scene the circuit is completed. That human element then resonates with those vibrations and becomes filled, or impacted by the experience. We as humans then take what we experienced with us from that moment and share it with the world as we interact with others outside that time — creating a possible energizing harmonium that others can experience as well.”
