martha voutas, an art director i knew, knew someone who knew someone, and all of a sudden i was working for david bowie.
i met him at his manager’s office on 57th street. he opened the door and proceeded to charm the socks off me, in spite of his still-british teeth.
we discussed the project, an album cover and poster for a pennebaker documentary of bowie as ziggy stardust, called, appropriately, ‘ziggy.’ he then ordered cheeseburgers deluxe and cokes for us. we ate junk food and laughed. then i took the subway downtown and he flew back to switzerland.
this was way before e mail. i’d fedex different poster ideas to him. he’d phone me at odd hours, and say things like this:
“you know that poster you sent me last week?”
“yes.”
“well, could you do something that’s like, the opposite of that?”
“what do you mean?”
“well, you know the way it is?”
“yes.”
“well, that’s exactly what i don’t want, so could you do something that’s as different from what you did as possible?”
“um, sure thing, mister bowie!”
so that’s how i met david bowie, genius music legend and world’s worst art director. that said, i’ve worked with several hundred horrible art directors, and not one of them can sing ‘rebel, rebel’ worth a damn. i’m a bowie fan for ever. they ended up using a photograph, but still. i’ll dine out on that cheeseburger as long as i live.
—laurie rosenwald
the 1981 original ziggy poster, which was a film positive with color-aid underneath it!
Flommist Laurie Rosenwald is an American illustrator, author, artist, and designer. Copyright © 2016 Laurie Rosenwald.
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