'Ink, Icons, Identity' suggests rock band often provides messages for 'love, loss and life,' says exhibit curator
By David Crumpler, The Florida Times-Union/Jacksonville.com
The idea for the U2 Tattoo Project, which can be seen in exhibit form starting Monday at the University of North Florida's Gallery of Art, came together last year.
It was mid-May. Beth Nabi and her friend Chris LeClere were at the first of two concerts launching U2's Innocence + Experience Tour in Vancouver.
Nabi had encouraged LeClere to join her to experience the thrill of seeing the celebrated Irish rock band perform live.
He turned out to be the right choice for a traveling companion.
Nabi is an assistant professor of graphic design and digital media at UNF and a longtime U2 fan. LeClere is a photographer and visual anthropologist.
She had given presentations about the band's "visual identity" -- images associated with U2 such as the Joshua Tree, the photo of a disturbed looking Dublin boy on the cover of the "War" album and the "Zoo baby" drawing from the album "Zooropa."