Nine Inch Nails’ most prominent visual theme evolved from decay into glitch during the With Teeth (2005) and Year Zero (2007) eras though the work of Rob Sheridan (Tumblr), a Los Angeles-based artist, designer and photographer. Sheridan started working with Trent Reznor in the late ’90s at a time when he was a budding artist with a well-run NIN fansite and Reznor was looking to expand his digital presence. As their partnership grew more and more collaborative, Sheridan’s role evolved from designer and photographer to Art Director. He also went on to create glitched visuals for Reznor’s work on The Social Network soundtrack in 2010 and with How to destroy angels_ this year in addition to becoming Reznor’s bandmate in the latter project. Despite being just as swamped as Reznor with NIN’s comeback, Sheridan was kind enough to speak with me over email about how he matches visuals to Reznor’s music.
Jill Krajewski (One Week One Band):What interests you about glitch art?
Rob Sheridan: I’ve always been fascinated with things that feel off, things that break formality or break the expected in interesting ways. When I started working with Nine Inch Nails and found myself tasked with visually representing the themes and emotions and sounds of the music, visual glitching was a natural fit. Trent has always played with things that sound slightly “wrong” in his music, and seeking the same visual metaphors often leads me to trying to use visual tools in “wrong” ways. Over time that’s meant dragging paper through broken printers, pouring liquids onto scanners, intentionally breaking cameras, corrupting code, disrupting signals, and on and on. But it depends entirely on the project and the themes and emotions behind it - you won’t find a trace of glitching on some of the albums I’ve done with NIN, because it wasn’t appropriate thematically.
OWOB: Your use of glitch art forThe Social NetworkandYear Zero seems to reflect the backdrop of corruption in both works. Why do you feel glitch art suits this theme?
RS: Well glitch art is, by its nature, corruption. For Year Zero it was a really natural fit, and the use of glitching came initially out of the story. The idea in the mythology was that everything visual in the Year Zero campaign - album art, websites, video footage - had been sent here from the future. So the glitching was a way of visually showing that story element, showing that the data had been corrupted to varying degrees during the transmission back through time. Corruption being a thematic tie-in with Year Zero’s story made it that much more perfect.
ForThe Social Network, the look of corrupted images played perfectly into not only the themes of corruption in the film, but of the way we portray ourselves digitally on Facebook. The look of it hinted at a darker side to what would be otherwise benign photos.
OWOB:Is there a theme behind your use of glitch art with How to destroy angels_?
RS: I came to the world of analog glitch while seeking out visual inspiration for the new HTDA record [Welcome Oblivion]. Wanting to move away from databending and try something different, I found that the analog equipment I was starting to experiment with created a process that interestingly mirrored what was being done on this album with audio equipment in the studio. And the way the process distorted imagery tied in really well with the themes I wanted to explore. There are themes of singularity, of a sort of end to mankind in an apocalyptic yet distinctly non-apocalyptic sort of way. There are themes of information overload, an increasing inability to process the amount of data that’s coming in. None of that probably makes any sense, but I don’t want to go into it in too much detail. The themes are closely connected to the themes of the HTDA album, and I’d rather people be able to experience it themselves and have their own takeaway on what it’s about.
analog(oblivion) 13b. VHS/CRT glitch art by Rob Sheridan. Outtake from artwork created for How To Destroy Angels’ An Omen EP. 2012. Prints available here.
Watch the new trailer for my debut comic series HIGH LEVEL, in stores February 20th on DC/Vertigo! Headphones recommended, because it has a killer original score by Steven Alexander RyanofThe Black Queen.Pre-order/subscribe to High Level now at your local comic shop or online at highlevelcomic.com. Pre-orders mean a lot for the future of the series, and we have a big story to tell!
Written/created by me with stunning artwork by Barnaby Bagenda and Romulo Fajardo Jr, High Level is a post-post-apocalyptic punk sci-fi adventure set hundreds of years after the end of the world. I’ve been developing it for over a year, and the first issue is the beginning of a huge sci-fi story that’s going to go to some wild places. I hope you’ll all come along for the ride! Even if comics aren’t your thing, if you like 80s/90s sci-fi (like Blade Runner, Star Wars, Mad Max, Aeon Flux, The Matrix, Akira, Total Recall) you might dig this book. It reads cinematically and has gorgeous visuals.
A new 80s/Struzen-inspired promo poster I designed for my upcoming debut comic series High Level, in stores February 20th 2019!
You can now pre-order the digital edition of the first issue (or subscribe to the series) from DCorComiXology, or the print edition from your local comic book shop or from online retailers like Midtown ComicsandFirst Legacy Comics (they’ll send it right to your door every month, at a discounted price).
Pre-orders impact the future of the series, so any and all help spreading the word would mean the world to me! I’ve been developing this series for over a year now, and I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.
To see more previews and news, follow the official High Level profiles on InstagramandTwitter.
This art, and thousands of other pieces of art like it, will no longer be allowed on Tumblr’s platform beginning December 17th, do to its incredibly offensive inclusion of “female presenting nipples.” This is a bullshit move by Tumblr that will shrink the reach and visibility of thousands of artists, photographers, models, and sex workers.
The project that’s been consuming me for the past year and a half is my debut comic book, HIGH LEVEL, a sci-fi adventure series launching February 2019 on DC-Vertigo. Here are the first (unlettered) pages from issue 1 that we debuted Friday at New York Comic Con. I’m insanely proud of how gorgeous this book is shaping up to be - our creative team is bringing so much depth and detail to the expansive world we’re creating.
High Level is a labor of love for me. It’s an epic, socially conscious post-post-apocalyptic saga crafted in the spirit of all of my favorite science fiction from the 80s and 90s. Written by me, pencils by Barnaby Bagenda, colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr, lettering by Nate Piekos, covers by Guillame Ospital. Edited by Andy Khouri and Maggie Howell.
For more art, previews, and news, follow High LevelonInstagramandTwitter.
