Artwork and visual concept for Mauro Ferraina's "Paisaje 30:20"

Mauro's idea for his album was as ambitious as conceptual: an album with seven songs (put together as a continuous, 30-minute-and-20-second track); each of the songs with it's correspondent painting, done by several artists.

For Mauro, creating this album was a very deep, personal experience - both technically and emotionally - and featured many friends as guest musicians and/or producers.
So I wanted to make it's visual representation as personal as his process.

Although his initial idea was making an album in a classic format, I proposed a different approach that I felt represented it's concept more truthfully. Taking a cue from it's album title (Paisaje means Landscape), I wanted to free those paintings from a standard 12x12cm CD booklet, so they could be experienced as landscapes themselves, while experiencing the music.

I also asked him for notes, handwritten lyrics, photographs and any sort of material that could serve as a visual witness of the whole process. After many attempts at crowded layouts, I ended up picking a single photo of him, which I felt was the most striking: caught inadvertently, in a relaxed pose, it has a contemplative aura about it, like if he's piecing it all in his head - notes and ideas flying around as a reflection of his inner ecosystem.

To make each copy more of a unique object, I created seven versions - one for each painting - with matching palettes for the interior.