Behind the Idea
Creativity Squared: Mat Maitland
Mat Maitland is part of Big Active, the creative consultancy responsible for numerous music campaigns including Beck, Goldfrapp and Mark Ronson.
In much the same way as Madonna in the 1990s, Lady Gaga has become an iconic force through her uncompromising and confident personality coupled with a keen eye for creative visual partners whether it be in the world of fashion, photography, art or film. Above all though, the spirit of collaboration is the key to her success in allowing these co-conspirators to run riot creating a persona which would frighten the living daylights out of most pop fodder paraded in front of us - a gyrating wave of blandness with less staying power than the common cold - so sexy, so perfect, so what. As a conduit for this creation she was brave enough to present an undiluted vision without, it seems, concern for what the market thought it wanted - i.e. the same as before, the next best last thing.
For a long time it felt the time was over for true pop stars, stars such as Prince and Michael Jackson who became alien beings living out their eccentric fantasy worlds 24/7 for the earths pleasure, like pieces of living breathing pop art. Since then, from the advent of Grunge in the 1990’s to the approachable stars of the noughties to the fragmented YouTube generation of today, there seemed little chance of any pop star having the same magnetic allure on such a grand scale. They were blunted by the need to appeal to everybody and be available to anybody.
Anyway, back to collaboration. You could argue that Lady Gaga is the creation of Nicola Formichetti, her creative director and stylist; or Hedi Slimane, who shot her last album cover campaign; or Nick Knight who shot her new album campaign and Born This Way video; or Jonas Akerlund who directed her Telephone video. The list goes on, but without Gaga herself at it’s centre it wouldn’t work; the fact that she is willing to embark on these creative journeys means the work will almost always be great and that’s not an accident.
What is admirable here is that she is doing this on such a commercial scale with such commercial music without having to dumb it down visually. In different hands there could be interfering vanity, lack of visual understanding, worries of alienation, clashes of ego and differences of opinion which normally suffocates creativity and encourages a ‘design by committee’, the death knell of any creative proposition.
Some would argue this has all been done before to greater effect by Grace Jones. She surely has to be seen as an influence (even if not consciously) to Gaga, certainly Jones herself has noted it. Whether it’s coincidence or pure plagiarism isn’t the point though, for me she’s a kindred spirit. The parallel to draw from them is that Jones is also a master collaborator, probably the ultimate collaborator - seemingly a willing blank canvas and totally fearless character entering into all creative partnerships with the thirst of an explorer, discovering new visual landscapes as part of a team. This is particularly vident on recent work with Chris Cunningham and light artist Chris Levine but none more potent than her work with artist Keith Haring where her statuesque form lent itself as a literal blank canvas for Haring's primitive art. Her seminal images with French photographer (and former lover) Jean Paul Goude, some of which you would recognise on album covers such as Island Life, Nightclubbing and Slave To The Rhythm, often turned Jones into a foreboding sculptural presence.
There’s something deeply enigmatic at the heart of Jones’ persona that coupled with her music makes for an intoxicatingly theatrical experience, used to strong effect on her recent live shows in a savvy partnership with Academy Award winner Eiko Ishioka, the costume designer behind films such as Francis Coppola’s Dracula and Tarsem Singh’s The Fall, and again with Chris Levine who designed the lighting for the shows.
