Frank Ocean’s Blonded Summer | The Art & Visuals   

Frank Ocean’s “2017 Blonded World Tour” was billed to be one of the biggest shows of the year. With massive screens, a customized catwalk and Academy Award-winning director Spike Jonze shadowing his every step, the 8 stop tour was nothing short of spectacular. However, prior to Blonded, Frank opted for an austere look when it came to his performances, here’s how he returned with a blueprint to change that once and for all.  

Fresh off his two Grammy wins in 2013, Frank embarked on his “You’re Not Dead” summer tour covering Europe, Canada and Australia for a total of 16 shows. The tour would debut four new tracks “Siegfried”, “Ivy”, “California” and “Loving You” along with a tropical interlude. The first two tracks titled “Brave” and “It’s All Good” at the time ended up on Blonde three years later. 

Frank’s year finished off at the “Odd Future Carnival” where he headlined and performed classics tracks like “Pyramids” and “She” with Tyler, The Creator. Draped in a ocean blue scarf, Frank had his band tucked behind a large LED screen which displayed simple visuals such as palm trees and coloured backgrounds.

Apart from the popular tracks, Frank played some deep cuts such as “Whip Appeal” and “Acura Integurl” 

In 2014, Frank performed at the Met Gala with a live band. He sang “Thinkin Bout You”, “Super Rich Kids” and “Wiseman”.

Frank’s interview on the red carpet would mark his last official on video interview until a leaked interview about the making of Blonde was accidentally left public by the editor on Vimeo.

In July, Frank took the stage at Bonnaroo, alone, sporting a soft pink hoodie and coming to a scene that mimicked an 80′s prom night. With littered balloons on the ground and a turntable sitting behind him, Frank ran through fan favourite tracks like “Lost” and “Thinkin Bout You”, often times letting the crowd take over, “y’all sound like a f***ing choir!” he yelled out. Throughout the show, Frank used tracks he was featured on in the previous years such as “New Slaves” and “Superpower” as interludes. As customary as it was during the 2013/14 run, he closed the show with the emotionally sitrring “Wiseman” before thanking the fans and walking out.

Frank went with a very simple stage set-up channelling classic 80′s vibes

A month later near the chilly mountains of Pemberton village. Frank performed at the Pemberton festival in British Columbia, Canada.

Outkast was originally intended to close the festival but due to a scheduling mix up, it was up to the 26 year old to follow a legendary performance with one of his own. Pemberton would mark the last time Frank Ocean took the stage until his return in June of 2017.

Up until that point in his career, Pemberton was the most monumental performance in Frank’s career regarding visuals. The massive screens of the festival allowed Francisco Soriano’s visuals to soar in full effect. Each track had it’s own feel, during certain tracks, a psyhedelic filter was applied to Frank’s gold wrapped E30 which resulted in a gorgeous output.

Pemberton was the final “channel ORANGE” show and served as a catalyst to enhance Frank’s visuals in the future. The show debuted new unreleased visuals and effects yet remained true to Frank’s previous shows, minimal.

Unlike the lush and exuberant projects, Frank was performing, the visuals and presentation of his performances were kept minimal as he opted to display burning palm trees, Jenny Holzer quotes and a lonely BMW E30 riding through Utah. 

Frank ordered 6 BMW’s to be customized before the start of the 2013 shows, here is one of the gold wrapped E30′s used to film the tour visuals

Jenny Holzer’s work would make a return in the ‘Nikes’ video in 2016

The visuals for Frank’s 2013-2014 performances can be watched here

As he walked off the stage of Pemberton in 2014, the promising and flourishing rise of his career flushed with it. Unbeknownst to the world, he was now commencing his now-notorious hiatus. An unconventional absence for an artist at the height of their fame propelled Frank into another stratosphere. The reclusivness resulted in a fervid curiosity from fans and peers alike and generated a cult-like following for the musician within the community.

Following the Grammys, Frank moved to London which provided him with a form of nourishment from the previously culture obsessed world of Hollywood. He was now pensivly working with Wendi Morris, Thomas Mastorakas, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Zak Group going deep into the world of art and formulating ideas for his magazines and artwork. 

In London, he enjoyed visiting record stores. He gained inspiration by studying the works of Cosey Fanni Tutti, David Greene of Archigram and visiting local theatres and watching movies. 

One of the books Frank read was “Serpentine Gallery Manifesto Marathon” which explores artists from the world of literature, design, science, philosophy, music and film. It features Marina Abramović (one of the people who convinced Frank to deactivate his Twitter) and Vivienne Westwood amongst others.

Frank at the premiere of the “Skepta: Top Boy” documentary in London, 2015 (fourth row on the right)

As both of the albums and magazine were now completed, (click here to see how) Frank’s team turned their attention to the artistic side, taking in how the projects were to be presented and creating early drafts of the stage setup and performance lighting. 

The blueprint for Frank’s return was slowly being crafted and well underway. 

Swiss graphic designer Michel Egger was hired to create the artwork for ‘Endless’ 

This concept art was used as the foundation for the project’s marketing

Image used by Apple Music on iTunes the day of release

Kia Tasbihgou, a London based graphic designer was hired to design the artwork for some of Blonde’s tracks:

Each of these works by Kia have been labelled from “S1″ to “S6″ which may have been the original idea for the rollout. “Nikes” did happen to be the first singe for the project but following that, both Frank and his team went radio-silence regarding any further singles, videos or promotions. The only other promoting tactics that have been displayed are the use of the tracks on “blonded RADIO” and “blonded Los Santos”.

The main artwork for Blonde was shot in the early mornings of January 2016 in Wolfgang Tillmans studio. Frank drove from London to Berlin through the night to meet with Wolfgang to complete the shoot. He had to once cancel it because the hair stylist couldn’t complete the job on time.

The Stage

With Blonde and Endless released, the focus was all on the stage set up and for that, Frank’s team hired veteran designer Willo Peron. 

Early sketches by Willo Peron & Assosiates 

The challenge was to have fans connect and feel intimate with Frank as if they were watching him craft the music in the studio. Everything from the lighting to the cameras chosen by Spike Jonze was taken into consideration. Unlike Frank’s past performances, the overall grandoise of the stage was paramount to ensure the right feel was experienced. 

The final look of the set-up seen here at Lovebox. The towering pole served as a source of light and also projected LED lazers, smoke and atmospheric projections as the set went on

Camera Equipment

For the stunning movie tier quality visuals displayed onto the screens, Spike Jonze pulled out an array of cameras, from vintage camcorder-style visuals to professional movie looks. Spike wanted to create an evolution of picture, 4 cameras with 4 different looks.  

They ranged from a black and white security camera with infrared illumination, a Sony VX-1000, popular for skate videos in the 90’s - and an Ikonoskop, a digital video camera which produces a specific, thick colour picture. The last camera was an “Alexa Mini" with an anamorphic lens, which provided large depth and the cinematic look.

Spike Jonze filming Frank with a Sony VX-1000 at Panorama

 Frank’s team had full control over what cameras were being projected at what time. Here, Spike transitions from shooting the Alexia Mini to another Blonded crew member who’s carrying the Ikonoskop. The transitions were done seamlessly. Spike and Frank agreed that all footage shot would be in real time therefore no pre-recorded visuals were ever used. If they needed a blue background, Spike would place a blue paper beforehand and zoom in. 

Here Frank is playing the Wurlitzer as Spike films with the black and white security camera

The Furniture

While visiting Tom Sachs studio in New York City, Frank liked the chairs Tom was building at the time and had him make some for the upcoming tour.

With a plywood base and clear polycarbonate back, Tom made this for each of the band members  

Along with the chairs, Tom remade the “Endless” boombox into a smaller size to fit the stage

The boombox featured an axe and Koss 4aa headphones

The Catwalk

The last element of the stage was a customized runway made just for Frank’s performances. The stage would be constructed as the regular scheduled festivals carried on and would be completed an hour before Frank’s slotted time. It featured graphics designs, doodles and drawings from Frank’s friends, collaborators and tour staff. The designs provided a glimpse at Frank’s subconcious with nods at fashion, brands, manufactures and personal quotes. 

Frank Ocean for i-D Magazine

Ben Reed, Ed Hayes, Vegyn, Alex G and Buddy Ross sit on the Blonded platform

A series of declassified documents linked to the assassination of then President John. F. Kennedy, may contain key information documenting the manner in which at least three former presidents of Mexico worked within an espionage network installed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

An information that, in the decade of the nineties, the government of the United States decided to reserve to prevent that the revelations could cause the fall of the Mexican government during the presidency of Ernesto Zedillo. And this is due to the way in which the documents show that at least three Mexican ex-presidents were recruited as informants of the United States government, as revealed in secret cables after the assassination of Kennedy.

“That was the argument used by the State Department and the CIA to convince us not to publish some of the operative details of how they shared intelligence information with Mexico,” said federal judge John R. Tunheim, head of the Mexico Review Panel. Files about the Murder, committee in charge of reviewing the case.

“Publishing how a foreign government shares intelligence with the CIA can be controversial, and I think that worried them, because the political party that was in power in Mexico in the 1990s was the same party that had been in power in the 1960s,” He referred to Tunheim.

However, 25 years later, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, decided to declassify 2,800 files linked to the Kennedy assassination, even though most of the file was kept secret. A series of documents that could help rewrite the history of Mexico during the Cold War.

“The disclosure of these documents would possibly change the history of Mexico, when the level of subordination of President Adolfo López Mateos to the legendary CIA head in Mexico, Winston Scott, was officially known, who recruited him as an asset of the agency, as He did it with presidents Gustavo Diaz Ordaz and Luis Echeverria, not only could the Mexican government have collapsed, but López Mateos could have been dismissed for the only crime for which he can be tried: treason, “the journalist wrote. Raymundo Riva Palacio.

In this way, the ex-presidents Adolfo López Mateos (LITENSOR), Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (LITEMPO-2) and Luis Echeverría (LITEMPO-8) had key names through which they were identified by the CIA as part of an espionage network established by the United States in Mexico City.

Another of the officials involved was Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios, the then head of the Federal Security Directorate (DFS) until 1970, who was also a deputy, governor of Veracruz, secretary of the interior and senator. The same Miguel Nazar Haro, who also served as head of the DFS and who was a key player in the dirty war.

“It is known, from Inside the Company, the book by Philip Agee, that Luis Echeverría Álvarez worked with and for the CIA, he was not the only employee who ruled Mexico in his spare time, Díaz Ordaz was also in the business, as well as the effective policemen Miguel Nazar Haro and Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios, ” wrote the writer Guillermo Sheridan , who has followed up on the case of the CIA archives on Mexico.

Points of view that show the magnitude of the revelations that could contain other documents of the CIA that to date have not been declassified by the US government.

In this way, the newly declassified documents provide new evidence of the work carried out by high officials of the Mexican government for the CIA, which adds to the evidence that already existed that at least three Mexican presidents “received money from Winston Scott, as In fact, the chief of the CIA station in Mexico, between 1956 and 1969, maintained a close friendship with the first circle of power in the country, “according to the journalist Jefferson Morley, who published the report in 2011. book Our man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the hidden history of the CIA .

Chinamperos sail the canals with a load of harvest in Xochimilco, México City. Gustavo Graf

As twilight hits the southern edge of Mexico City, campesinos(peasant farmers) glide through narrow canals between pastures as they make their way over the water to deliver crates of produce. It’s January, the middle of the dry season, and through the slopes of the surrounding hills and volcanoes, desiccated lettuce and spinach fill the fields amid the lagoons of Xochimilco.

San Gregorio Atlapulco, in Mexico City’s Xochimilco municipality, is the last bastion of the once great chinampa economy. During Aztec times, it functioned as the motor for the sustenance of up to 1.5 million people in the Valley of Mexico. Tenochtitlan, the island capital of the Aztecs, is where the Mexica built their pyramids in the Lake of Texcoco. It was intimately integrated with a vast system of agricultural fields, called chinampas. These made up the aggro-industrial complex of what remains one of the world’s largest cities.

Antonio Camacho pulls a hose to water a Chinampa full of italian lettuce at Xochimilco, Mexico City. (Gustavo Graf)

“We basically keep the fields producing all year. How [much we] harvest depends on what crops we put in,” says José Alfredo Camacho, a farmer from San Gregorio. “Spinach will take a month and half, radishes one month,” he adds, standing in a field with his brothers. “It depends on the crop rotation we decide on.”

Jaime Fernandez, stevedore in charge of loading produce from the boats onto a truck, has three days off per year: Christmas, Mexican Independence Day, and Day of the Dead. All year long, 80 tons of produce arrive daily to the four trucks waiting on the bank of the Pixcalli canal as if growing season never ends. “Chinampas can be a good business if you work at it,” José says.

Chinamperos harvest lettuce in Xochimilco, México City. (Gustavo Graf)

San Gregorio is just 30 minutes away from the Central de Abastos, Mexico City’s giant wholesale market, making the freshness of its crops unbeatable. The chinamperos also try to schedule their harvests so that they will also be a little bit before the normal harvest season for whatever particular crop they are growing, thereby obtaining better prices. The typically 15-by-90-yard fields are exceedingly fertile and intensive agriculture has high yields. But profits are meager. According to Gustavo Camacho, owner of 12 chinampas, one normal size chinampa will yield a 32,000 peso ($1,700) annual profit.

Chinamperos sail through the canals of Xochimilco to harvest. (Gustavo Graf)

Canals are used for transport and irrigation, so the fields are often only reachable by boat. The canals are constantly dredged and—along with the mud—chilacastle, similar to watercress, are dumped on to the fields. The chinampas are almost a closed-cycle ecosystem, held in place underwater by files of huejotes or Bondpland willows.

“The huejote is the only tree which can resist this much moisture,” says Gustavo, owner of 12 chinampas. “The roots keep the banks of the canals firm. To make a chinampa you first have to make an enclosure of branches and plant willow trees in the water. Then you fill the enclosure with mud and water lilies.” But, he adds, “nobody makes chinampas anymore.”

La Ciénega (The Swamp), one of the last natural landscapes left from the old lagoon and canals from Xochimilco, México City. (Gustavo Graf)

San Gregorio and neighboring San Luis Tlaxialtemalco are the last among the municipality’s 14 villages still maintaining an agricultural economy based on the chinampa technique. The land subsidence caused by exploitation of the aquifers by the megalopolis has tilted the plane of the wetland, causing the lower lying chinampas to flood and the canals in the higher areas to dry out. When the canals dry out the fields then rapidly become urbanized by the encroaching city.