By Dwayne Cogdill

I can across this cover for the “In Utero” album of Nirvana which gives us an opportunity to contemplate the relationship between the spiritual and the physical.  It’s a great example of how graphic design can ask the big questions.

The picture of the angel may at first appear to be a piece of found art from an old book, but upon a closer look we realize that it is actually one of those plastic anatomy figures that shows how a body is put together. It is a little scientific model.

The addition of the wings suggests that we are more than just physical beings, more than just machines. The question of spiritual significance of meaning is raised. Science alone cannot give us the “why” or “to what end.” These are religious questions. 

Like many artists Cobain may have been ahead of the curve. In fact, the whole reason for the drive towards postmodernity can be explained by people having become disillusioned with science — modernity's sole source of knowledge. They began looking for meaning from sources beyond science.

When my oldest son was in the 4th grade, a teacher conducted a conversation with his class about animals. She asked, “Are people animals?” She described to the children the characteristics of mammals, and the children agreed with her that people are indeed animals. After all, it’s a scientific question with a reasonable and scientific answer. Right?

Well, my 10 year old son did not think it was that simple. He protested, but was not allowed to share his reasoning in class. There was no tolerance for another perspective so he took up the conversation with me as we drove home.

Just like the teacher, I asked him about the characteristics of mammals. Perhaps he was just misunderstanding, I thought. (This was unlikely since he is a straight A student, and has been known to get perfect scores on his grade-level SATs.) 

My son acknowledged the characteristics that humans share with animals. He presented them to me thoroughly just like a teacher, but then he turned the conversation in a philosophical direction. He quoted Genesis to me. He pointed out that God breathed into the man and he became “a living soul.”

Man’s soul, his spirituality, is what sets him apart from the animals according to my son. He talked to me about people making art and writing music and worshipping God.  He quoted to me the Westminster Catechism.

If C.S. Lewis were around, I think he would be very pleased with my son’s logic. Lewis said that if we could really see a person’s soul everyone would appear as either a glorious angel so beautiful we would be tempted to worship them or as a demon so hideous we wouldn’t be able to look. 

Perhaps it was some disillusionment with the physical, the scientific. Perhaps it was the seeming meaninglessness that lead to Cobain’s demise. This album art at least brings these questions to mind. And, recordings like “They Hung Him On A Cross” show that Nirvana thought about religion.

This album cover is simple, intelligent, thoughtful, and spiritual. Great graphic design! 

St. Dwayne of Orange County

©2009 Dwayne Cogdill