David Bowie > Mac Odessey

David Bowie > Mac Odessey

Words by Ron Mwangaguhunga
Images by Jill Greenberg

"David Bowie, as a musician, performer, and song-writer, continually re-invents himself and his art." Rolling Stone Magazine.

At his 50th birthday party in Madison Square Garden, surrounded by fans and fellow travelers like Lou Reed, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith, Billy Corgan and The Foo Fighters, David Bowie was at the height of that proverbial "Fame." David Robert Jones, aka David Bowie, was born in Brixton in the United Kingdom on January 8th, 1947. In his early teens, Bowie was inspired by the jazz of the West End. Since then, David Bowie has continually re-invented himself and his art in the most unexpected ways. His public self-experimentations mark him as one of the first post-modern superstars.

David Bowie and his wife, Iman, happen to be two of the most famous Mac enthusiasts. David's official site is located at www.davidbowie.com. Although music is the art form that David Bowie is best known for, he actively participates in several other forms as well. For instance, Bowie has recently branched out into painting, sculpture and acting, as well venturing into the creation of an interactive CD-ROM. David Bowie's most recent foray is into holograms, or, more precisely, lenticular inserts.

Limited numbers of David Bowie's 1999 CD on release "hours", Virgin Records included lenticular inlays. These devices are not unlike holograms in that they allow a three-dimensional scene to be cast using two- dimensional material. These eye-popping images were put together by Martin Richardson, the founder of T.H.I.S. Ltd, which stands for: The Holographic Image Studio in Southbank, London. "My studio in London is very technologically-based, although I trained as a fine artist," explains Richardson. "The lenticular insert for the (David Bowie's) 'hours' album was made using photographs by Tim Bret Day, a 35mm movie I made of David during the same photographic session and accompanying graphics from the San Francisco based artist Rex Ray. All these elements were digitized for the Macs and placed into layers using Photoshop. A wire frame model was constructed using Studio 4D and the individual images then pasted into the model. The whole three dimensional model was subsequently interlaced, (optically shredded), aligning the lines of the print to the array of lens from a micro-lens array. This acts as a decoder for the three-dimensional effect."

Bowie worked with Martin Richardson of T.H.I.S. to make the inserts. "I first met David Bowie at an exhibition of his paintings called MONITOR's held in London," said Richardson. "However It was some time later in New York that I had a chance to visit him during the recording of the 'hours' album, that we had a chance to sit down and look at my three-dimensional work in more detail."

"I don't really think I've ever quite experienced holograms like these, they really are magnificent," said Bowie of the technology. "They almost become part of one's family, and a very disturbing and otherly family at that."

On September 1, 1998, The Thin White Duke launched BowieNet. BowieNet was the first and still is the most prominent rock star ISP. The idea is fascinating: Bowie fans can obtain their dial-up Internet access through a Bowie-provided Internet Service Provider. Included along with unlimited access to the Internet is exclusive content such as Bowie's journals, unreleased tracks, guest commentaries, and never-before-seen photographs.

BowieNet was nominated for the 1999 WIRED Awards for Best Entertainment Site of The Year. In fact, Bowie has embraced the digital lifestyle and pushed the envelope since the early days of the web. Bowie is practically surrounded by Apple technology on all fronts. Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor and David Bowie even collaborated on a remix of "I'm afraid of Americans" that ran on QuickTime. Charlie Clouser, who uses a PowerBook and Pro Tools, worked with David Bowie on the remix of "I'm Afraid of Americans." Tony Visconti, Bowie's producer on "hours", used ProTools 24 MixPlus and seven different Macs.

"Everything I make is on Apple," said Bowie's collaborator Richardson. "At the moment I have five machines, each dedicated to one particular task. These are never used for Net use and are effectively dedicated for the production of lenticular artworks."

Always at the cutting edge of technology, Bowie also made an Internet-only release of his drum 'n bass single "Telling Lies" in the Mid '90s. The Sun Magazine recently voted David Bowie the biggest music star of the 20th century. MacDirectory couldn't agree more.