Michael Stipe: Our Interference Times

As an undergraduate studio art major at the University of Georgia, Michael Stipe (born 1960) studied photography and painting before leaving school upon the formation of R. E. M. , the band for which he served as frontman and singer/songwriter until its dissolution in 2011. The sensibility that he began to develop during his time as an art student transferred to the spectrum of his work for R. E. M. , from art directing all graphic, video and stage design, to writing, composing and performance, and his iconoclastic personal style. Stipes visibility as a media figure in the popular culture of the 1980s and 90s left an indelible mark on the aesthetic trends of the time, many of which have trickled down to contemporary culture.