Aladdin Sane and Close-Up Eye Asymmetry: David Bowie’s Contribution to Comic Book Visual Language

Abstract

In April 1973 David Bowie released Aladdin Sane. The cover of Aladdin Sane features an iconic image of David Bowie, a close-up shot of the artist with brightly colored orange hair and asymmetrical lightning bolt make-up on the right side of his face. This article argues that the cover image for Aladdin Sane uses the Close-Up Eye Asymmetry (CUE-A) pictorial device (i.e., close-up view of David Bowie, asymmetrical make-up around his eye) and that CUE-A was adopted into Comic Book Visual Language by first providing evidence that CUE-A is used in comic book art. A link is then established between comic book art and music album art by showing that: (1) David Bowie was familiar with Comic Book Visual Language and could make a contribution to the language, and (2) comic book artists are influenced by music album art. I then make a case that the adoption of CUE-A into Comic Book Visual Language was specifically due to the cover image for Aladdin Sane by analyzing: (1) the use of CUE-A by influential artists in the 1990s and (2) the different rates of adoption of CUE-A for the depiction of established versus newer comic book characters.

Keywords

• David Bowie
• drawing development
• graphic schemas
• metaphorical pictures
• visual language