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Roy Nachum/Roc NationRihanna sang high praise for artist Roy Nachum during a private unveiling of her album cover at MAMA gallery in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday night. Now, Nachum is revealing the importance of Rihanna’s Anti artwork, which sees a young Rih Rih holding a black balloon with a gold crown covering her eyes.
In an interview with Billboard, Nachum reveals when it came to using a childhood photo, “[Rihanna] knew, she immediately knew that’s what she wanted to do.”
He also explains the significance of Rih’s decision to include poem written in Braille. “For a blind person, a museum or a gallery is just a blank space. You can’t touch the work,” Nachum says. “It was important for me to include, to do something for them. And to open people’s eyes. A metaphor. When you see Braille, it’s kind of like to appreciate life and simple things and all that.”
Nachum is excited about doing more interactive art: “I’m bringing a message. My goal is to leave a mark as long as I live. So it’s kind of like, you’re just bringing it to a whole different crowd and making it so that a lot of people can see it and connect with my art, so I really appreciate it.”
So how did he meet Rihanna? “I think it was a year ago… She watched me. She saw my work at Jay Z‘s — he collects my work — so she saw my work in his private collection,” he says.
You can check out more of Nachum’s work, including the making of Rihanna’s Anti cover, on his official Instagram page.
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