Eric Coleman

THE ICONIC PHOTOGRAPH OF MF DOOM THAT APPEARED ON THE COVER OF HIS BEST-KNOWN COLLAB ALBUM, MADVILLAN WITH MADLIB

Born in 1971 in London but raised on Long Island, the late producer and rapper MF DOOM is best known for his complex rhymes and wordplay, signature mask, and comic supervillain performance persona. Variety has referred to him one of Hip Hop's "most celebrated, unpredictable, and enigmatic figures."

The current lot, an original photograph by Eric Coleman which portrays DOOM in his signature silver mask, is the same image that appeared on the cover of DOOM's most well-known collaboration album, Madvillian with influential producer, Madlib. In an October 2018 article in Juxtapoz magazine, the effect of the cover image - brooding, mysterious, and slightly sinister - was described as the below:

"Perhaps his best-known collaboration is Madvillain, which featured him and the iconic producer Madlib. Their 2004 record Madvillainy was the project’s only official release, which was met with near-universal acclaim for how the record masterfully captures the best elements of MF DOOM’s unique lyricism and Madlib’s signature sampling techniques.

The cover art is simple, it’s an edited black-and-white photo of MF DOOM taken by photographer Eric Coleman. The goal was to capture MF DOOM’s mysterious appearance and inspire inquiry about the (then) relatively unknown rapper who never appeared without a mask. Sometimes less is more, and although DOOM had innumerable visual elements in his work, the most quintessential is the man in the mask."

The Los Angeles-born Eric Coleman is the co-founder of Mochilla, a production company with fellow photographer, Brian "B+" Cross. He has exhibited his work both stateside and overseas and his photographs have appeared on the pages of numerous magazines and album covers. 

Provenance:

Courtesy of the photographer

Condition Report:

To request a condition report for this lot, please contact pop@sothebys.com