In an interview with the musician and artist, Summit shares why he tapped Alvarado for his album artwork while giving a behind-the-scenes look at their creative process together.
The relationship between artists and musicians has long been a rich and historied one — Warhol famously produced album art for The Velvet Underground, Takashi Murakami created the visuals for Ye’s Graduation, and Jeff Koons made a sculpture for Lady Gaga’s Artpop album. But when it comes to artistic collaborations in more recent years, you can’t help but wonder if they’re actually something the artists themselves believe in or part of the larger industrial machine backing them.
The 29-year-old electronic musician John Summit doesn’t leave that up for speculation. Instead, he shares that for his latest project (in collaboration with Puerto Rican artist Marcos Alvarado), he directly messaged the artist on social media. Summit shares that the pair’s relationship actually goes all the way back to before the pandemic, when he came in contact with the artist’s work via Instagram.
“Initially, I really resonated with his art and his perspective on life. Even his captions were inspiring — they were very spiritual and mindful.”
John Summit
“I’ve been following Marcos for a couple of years now,” Summit elaborates. “Initially, I really resonated with his art and his perspective on life. Even his captions were inspiring — they were very spiritual and mindful. And so when I started to put this project together, I knew he would be an awesome collaborator and someone who could really bring my album to life.”
For Comfort In Chaos — Summit’s 12-track debut album that explores the duality between the artist (John Summit) and the man behind the scenes of it all (John Schuster) — Alvarado designed numerous pieces of work that personified Summit’s lyrics. The album, which Summit admits is his “most vulnerable to date,” deals with everything from heartbreak to self-rediscovery, and is met with equally juxtaposing imagery. The most notable is the cover design which features a figure in the midst of chaos — throws of fire, lightning, and snakes — but is seen meditating, finding comfort in it all.
While the project is tied to Summit’s larger discography (and serves as his formal debut into music), it is still firmly rooted in Alvarado’s as well. The album cover, in particular, weaves Alvarado’s recurring motifs, like his trademark skeleton and snake in saturated colors over a checkerboard platform and against a dark background. Marcos shares that this idea “came to mind immediately” when John told him the name of the album.
“When I first listened to the album, I was immediately struck by the actual feeling it imparted on me. And knowing that some of these pieces would come out before fans could actually listen to the album was a responsibility I didn’t take lightly. It’s a really great album, and a timeless body of work in my opinion.”
In addition to the album artwork, Summit also recruited Alvarado for a few singles leading up to the album: “Shiver” with HAYLA, “EAT THE BASS,” and “Go Back” with Sub Focus and Julia Church. Each piece uniquely captures the energy of the song, while seamlessly blending both artists creative visions together.
“Why I trusted Marcos with this project is because his art is abstract, yet also pretty psychedelic. I love psychedelic art because you can interpret it on your own — and I think it’s the same with my music and lyrics, it’s not super literal. Instead, you can interpret it how you like because it’s more about a feeling.”
“John is a really special artist. The love he has for not only his work but also other people’s work is like nothing I’ve seen before. It’s really inspiring to see and has made me approach my art a little differently too.”
Marcos Alvarado
Alvarado shares that his process of creating this album first started as a basic pencil sketch on paper, and then he would fill in the details with color. Despite much more advanced approaches to art in this age, Alvarado chose to execute the project in a more traditional way, working mostly with ink and colored pencils.
Within the past few years, Summit has become one of the most in-demand DJs around. And this one-of-one collaboration further cements his unique vision and perspective for the future of music. “John is a really special artist,” Alvarado agrees. “The love he has for not only his work but also other people’s work is like nothing I’ve seen before. It’s really inspiring to see and has made me approach my art a little differently too. After working with John, I truly believe that true success comes from collaboration.” To which Summit quickly follows up, sharing: “Marcos is an incredibly talented artist, and without his support or agreement to this collaboration, this would have never happened. And I would like to reiterate too that collaboration is the key to success. Especially as an artist, we should all collaborate more with each other because when you bring two brains together anything is possible.”
Home page art work supplied courtesy of The Oriel , above image of John Summit by Dana Trippe.
