For the North American leg of Imagine Dragons’ current 40-city arena tour — to support the release of their sophomore album, Smoke + Mirrors — the multi-platinum selling and Grammy Award winning (“Radioactive”) American alternative rock group — vocalist Dan Reynolds, guitarist D. Wayne Sermon, drummer Daniel “Z” Platzman and bassist Ben McKee — wanted to bring art and music together in a new, compelling and interactive way.
The band have managed to pull off this artistically Herculean feat by collaborating with Smoke + Mirrors album artist Tim Cantor and audio technology leader, DTS. At each tour stop, all attending fans can visit the Art of Imagine Dragons Smoke + Mirrors gallery and view the art Cantor created for every song from their new album while listening to the album in DTS’ immersive surround sound and experience Imagine Dragons music like they never have before.
When the gentlemen from Imagine Dragons first approached Tim Cantor with the idea of working with them on the artwork for the cover of Smoke + Mirrors, the renowned surrealist painter admits he felt a little hesitancy about collaborating with a rock band, but any timidity he harbored quickly faded once he met up with the Las Vegas-based musicians.
“Being such a big fan of the group, when they asked I immediately said, ‘Yes, I want and would love to do it!,” Cantor gleefully recalls. “I was excited, immediately. I knew it would be an interesting experience. I guess my only fear was that I thought I was going to meet with them and they were doing to have specifics in mind. Like, ‘We want a painting that looks just like this,’ which is so far out of my realm. I just kind of paint from my imagination. Once I met with them, within a minute of talking to them, I was like, ‘Okay, they are really, really open to letting me interpret the music.’ It was obvious they were big fans of my work. From working on the artwork to going out on the road with the gallery has been incredible. I mean, the whole experience has been amazing. They are the nicest guys you every want to know…and work with.”
Experience Imagine Dragon’s new single, “Shots” in DTS Headphone:X immersive surround sound HERE!
Artist/Writer Tim Cantor on the marriage of Art + Music for Imagine Dragons’ Smoke + Mirrors Tour:
So far, what has it been like being on an arena tour with Imagine Dragons? “I love it. The band has been really great. They’ve put my wife and myself on our own tour bus and they set it up so that I can paint in there. I basically have a little studio on the bus. So, I have to say it’s been really amazing.”
How did your collaboration between you and the band initially come about? “They discovered my work. I have a permanent gallery in San Diego, and they had come into the gallery, about eight months before I get a call from the manager of the band. He said his band was a big fan of my art and was wondering if I would be interested in doing the cover for their album. However, he would never tell me who the band was. Actually, my wife talked to them first, and she said they were very, very humble. So, she thought it was some little local band from San Diego. Finally, he said, ‘Have you ever heard of the band Imagine Dragons?’ My wife and I were fans already, so it was incredibly exciting. I felt like I needed something in my life, too. ”
Why, in what way? “Well, I have my own gallery, it’s been there for 15 years and everything is kind of in place for me. I’ve been really successful, lucky and fortunate but I felt I was just going in this one direction. And, this has really taken me off that normal path that I was used to.”
I guess sometimes we all need our tidy little worlds shaken up, especially in a good way. Kinda of like a little karmic kick in the butt to send us in a new direction…. “Definitely, well, they have certainly done that. (laughs) It was about six month before the album was released before I got that phone call. Right away, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m in.’ And, they were like, ‘So, are you interested, cool!’ The band lives in Vegas, which isn’t too far from me, so we drove right out to their studio. The band played all of their new music for me.”
Did they tell you want they wanted the album to look like? “Not at all. They basically said, ‘Just listen to the new music, we like your art already, so just let the music put visuals in your mind. Go with whatever you see when you hear the music.” So, that’s what I did. I just started drawing. I drew and drew for weeks after that. I showed them at least 200 drawings. I get very obsessed when I get motivated to do something new.” (laughs)
Have you always listened to music and been able to visualize it in your mind? “Oh yeah, in fact that came really natural for me. Because they were kind of like, ‘Can you, can you listen to the music and get inspired by it?’ I said, ‘Well, that’s what I do anyway, so this is perfect.’ I love their music, and getting to hear their new music just caused so many images to pop into my head. It was all so natural. That wasn’t the problem at all. The problem was kind of narrowing done the hundreds of ideas that I did come up with.”
They were obviously very impressed with your hundreds of ideas. “They were. Because in the beginning they just wanted me to do the album cover and I show up with these hundreds of images and they were very excited. It started out as the album cover and turned into 13 pieces for every song on the album. From there, we did a music video where all of my paintings come to life. They have included so much in all the visuals of this album that I think that’s the reason they wanted me to come out on tour with them and set up this gallery.”
The Art of Smoke + Mirrors gallery exhibition is a pretty bold and unprecedented event. I can’t think of any other artist or band who have ever attempted something like this before. “Yeah, that’s what I keep hearing. Every night we do this, people say they been to hundreds of concerts and have never seen anything like this before. I love to hear that.”
You’ve been painting for quite a while now, since you were about five years old, right? “Yeah, I started in oils when I was five, because I had inherited them from my great-grandfather (English artist Lloyd Dundas Whiffen), that’s why I started so young with oils. Even though, I always say you are not supposed to give five year olds oil paints. (laughs) Luckily, my parents didn’t know that.”
From that moment on, you always knew you were always going to be an artist? You had no Plan B? “I never even really thought about it, it was just something I was going to do. Now that I’m older, I realize how lucky I am. So few people know what they are doing to do at a young age, but I did. I just feel very lucky.”
Is it fair to call you a surrealist? “I think so. I’ve always struggle with a label to describe my art, but I think that would be the closest way to describe it. I go to museums, constantly, that’s like my big passion. I study Renaissance art, old Dutch art and there are kind of specific paintings that I seek out. I basically study those paintings to see how they are done. I think to myself, ‘Okay, there probably did it like this, and worked this way for that.’ That’s basically how I taught myself throughout life, and I kind of applied to my modern imagination.”
What kind of advice would you give a young artist hoping to have a career in the modern art world? “You know, I’ve been getting that question a lot, lately, on the tour. (laughs) So many young artists, at every show, ask me for advice. I don’t have a great answer, but I always say, ‘Just be obsessed with it. Just let yourself be obsessed. Always paint what you really want to paint or create, and not just paint, because you can apply that to be a sculptor or a writer. Be passionate and obsessed.’ That’s my only advice, because that’s all I’ve ever been.”
What are your plans after the Smoke + Mirrors tour is over? “Just painting, like I’ve always done before. We’ll see how long the tour goes. We are going to do the whole North American tour and we are discussing Asia and Europe, right now, to see if it is a real possibility. It’s a massive display, so we are trying to figure out if we can ship it across the world.” (laughs)
At the end of the day, what would say has been the most satisfying part of doing this gallery tour with Imagine Dragons? “I come from a very fine art type of world, where I show in galleries, and there is a way about that type of society…”
Appreciative, but very prim and proper? “Yeah, very much so, and that’s what I’m used to, so I just love the happiness and the passion of all their fans that come to their shows. It’s just amazing to be a part of this. I don’t know to describe it, it just makes you so happy. All the excitement and exuberance of their fans has opened up my artwork to a whole nother side of culture and society that I don’t know would have ever have seen it. It’s exciting, every, every night. At times, it’s like a 100 people waiting for me to sign something for them.”
You are a rock star now! “Naw, that’s Imagine Dragon’s job. Although, I am getting a little hint of what they feel like every night. (laughs) It feels kinda cool.”
For more on Tim Cantor, visit www.timcantor.com * Additional Imagine Dragons info can be found at www.imaginedragonsmusic.com
IMAGINE DRAGONS/THE ART OF IMAGINE DRAGONS SMOKE + MIRROR TOUR DATES:
July 10 Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
July 11 Fort Lauderdale, FL – BB&T Center
July 13 Memphis, TN – FedExForum
July 14 Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena
July 16 Houston, TX – Toyota Center
July 17 Dallas, TX – American Airlines Arena
July 18 Lake Tahoe, NV – Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys
July 20 Anaheim, CA – Honda Center
July 21 San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena
July 24 Los Angeles, CA – Forum
July 25 Phoenix, AZ – US Airways Center
July 27 Denver, CO – Pepsi Center
July 28 Salt Lake City, UT – Energy Solutions Arena
July 30 Vancouver, BC CA – Rogers Arena
July 31 Tacoma, WA – Tacoma Dome
August 1 Boise, ID – Taco Bell Arena
