Rob Sheridan

{{Infobox artist

| name = Rob Sheridan

| image = How_To_Destroy_Angels_-_Coachella_2013.jpg

| image_size = 250px

| alt = Rob Sheridan controlling stage lighting instruments

| caption = Rob Sheridan with How to Destroy Angels in 2013

| birth_name = Robert Sheridan

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1979|10|11}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = American

| field = art director, graphic designer, writer, photographer, comic book author

| training = Pratt Institute

| movement =

| works =

| patrons =

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}}

Robert Sheridan (born October 11, 1979) is an American artist, creative director, stage visual designer, photographer, and comic book author known for his extensive work in the music and entertainment industries and with the bands Nine Inch Nails and Pearl Jam. He is widely known as a designer of stage visuals.{{cite news |last1=Gardiner |first1=Bryan |title=Building 'Tension': An Inside Look at NIN's Massive Arena Tour |url=https://www.wired.com/2013/12/nin-tension-tour/ |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=Wired |date=Dec 11, 2013}} He is also an apparel designer, and founder of Glitch Goods.{{cite news |last1=Spiers |first1=Elizabeth |title=Whatever You Think of the Movies, the Barbenheimer Memes are Glorious |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/22/opinion/barbie-oppenheimer-meme-culture.html |access-date=1 May 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=Jul 22, 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Wampler |first1=Scott |title=Rob Sheridan's Movie Monster Masks Make Mask-Wearing Fun for Everyone |url=https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2020/05/29/rob-sheridans-movie-monster-masks-make-mask-wearing-fun-for-everyone.html |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=Birth Movies Death |date=May 29, 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Sprague |first1=Mike |title=Rob Sheridan's MOVIE MONSTERS Face Masks - I Want That! |url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/333898/rob-sheridans-movie-monsters-face-masks-i-want-that/ |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=Dread Central |date=Jul 20, 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Dorn |first1=Lori |title=Creepy Movie Monster Face Masks by Rob Sheridan |url=https://laughingsquid.com/movie-monster-face-masks-by-rob-sheridan/ |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=Laughing Squid |date=Aug 24, 2020}}

Biography

In April 1997, when Sheridan was 17, he created a website dedicated to the Dancing Baby animation, contributing to its popularity as an early internet meme.{{Cite web |last=Jacqui |first=Palumbo |date=5 May 2022 |title=The internet's famous dancing baby from 1996 is getting a new look |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/dancing-baby-meme-nft/index.html |access-date=3 March 2023 |website=CNN}}{{Cite web |last=Schroeder |first=Audra |date=Nov 12, 2021 |title=The many lives of the Dancing Baby, cyberspace's first cringe meme |url=https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/dancing-baby-meme-history/ |access-date=Mar 23, 2023 |website=Daily Dot}}

Sheridan attended art school at New York's Pratt Institute for one year before being hired at age 19 by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor in 1999, on the merits of a Nine Inch Nails fansite he created during high school.Biographical information from artist's portfolio: http://www.rob-sheridan.com, http://www.rob-sheridan.com/main.php#/ABOUT He was initially hired to maintain the newly launched official Nine Inch Nails website.Sheridan was credited with "web integration" in the liner notes for the 1999 Nine Inch Nails album The Fragile. He then also took over as art director for the band, contributing photography, web design, album covers, music videos, live tour visuals, and two live concert films.Projects listed in artist's portfolio: http://www.rob-sheridan.com His tenure as art director spanned from 1999 to 2014.{{cite news |last1=Chilton |first1=Louis |title=Nine Inch Nails Artist Ridicules Pro-Trump Fan Group: "You've Never Actually Listened to the Lyrics" |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/nine-inch-nails-rob-sheridan-trump-facebook-group-a9619876.html |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=Independent |date=Jul 15, 2020}} He was also credited for assisting Trent Reznor with the mythology of the alternate reality game built around Nine Inch Nails' 2007 album Year Zero.Sheridan was credited with "world building" alongside Reznor in the liner notes for Year Zero. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1056593/otherworks The album evokes a dystopian world where art is a form of resistance, with crackdowns on "disobedience" and "subversive materials".{{cite news |last1=Ong |first1=Alexis |title=An Experimental Horror ARG is Testing the Boundaries of AI Art |url=https://www.theverge.com/design/23206001/midjourney-ai-art-horror-arg-game-rob-sheridan |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=The Verge |date=Jul 15, 2022}}

In 2010, Sheridan co-founded the band How to Destroy Angels. He featured on all the studio releases, as well as touring with the band in 2013.

Sheridan is most widely known for his signature glitch art style where he manipulates images and photographs to produce new works. He did the artwork for Nine Inch Nails’ The Social Network, which underwent revision at Sony’s request.{{cite web|last1=Sheridan|first1=Rob|title=analog(one)|url=http://www.rob-sheridan.com/analog/one.html|website=Rob Sheridan|access-date=7 June 2016}}{{cite web|last1=Sheridan|first1=Rob|title=the social network soundtrack art|url=http://www.rob-sheridan.com/TSN/|website=Rob Sheridan|access-date=7 June 2016}}{{cite news |last1=Conlin |first1=Dan |title=The Fascinating Story of the Social Network Soundtrack Artwork |url=https://gamerant.com/the-social-network-soundtrack-artwork-rob-sheridan/ |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=GameRant |date=Oct 4, 2020}} He has been perfecting his custom analog glitch process over the past several years, continuously refining and expanding the technique. The current methodology involves recording imagery onto deliberately damaged VHS tapes using old VCRs, which are then connected to vintage CRT televisions. This process allows him to manipulate the visuals in unique ways, creating his distinctive glitch art.{{cite news |last1=Stuart |first1=Michael B |title=Veteran Creative Director Creates a Horror Glitch Series Using Analog Effects |url=https://fstoppers.com/spotlight/veteran-creative-director-creates-horror-glitch-series-using-analog-effects-300934 |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=Fstoppers |date=Nov 2, 2018}} He is also well-recognized for his work in illustration, photography, graphic design, and as the director, editor, and director of photography responsible for concert films, as well as a director for the 2005 Nine Inch Nails music video The Hand That Feeds.

In 2018, Sheridan announced that he would be writing a comic book through the new launch of Vertigo on DC Comics, called High Level. The book was released in 2019.{{cite web |last1=Sheridan |first1=Rob|title=date|url=https://twitter.com/rob_sheridan/status/1004772290154754048?lang=en |website=Twitter |access-date=10 September 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Estrella |first1=Ernie |title=Exclusive First Look: Rob Sheridan's New Cyberpunk Vertigo Title High Level |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/exclusive-first-look-rob-sheridans-new-cyberpunk-vertigo-title-high-level |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=Syfy |date=Feb 19, 2019}} He collaborated for a score for this series with Steven Alexander Ryan and Justin McGrath, his coworkers from the Nine Inch Nails’ Twenty Thirteen Tour.{{cite news |last1=Limbert |first1=Alex |title=Steven Alexander Ryan and Justin McGrath of the Black Queen to Score New DC Comics Release High Level Created by Former Nine Inch Nails Art Director Rob Sheridan |url=https://music.mxdwn.com/2020/08/22/news/steven-alexander-ryan-and-justin-mcgrath-of-the-black-queen-to-score-new-dc-comics-release-high-level-created-by-former-nine-inch-nails-art-director-rob-sheridan/ |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=Mxdwn.com |date=Aug 22, 2020}} Additionally, Sheridan is a co-inventor listed on a patent for a playlist distribution system within a music service, assigned to Apple Inc.{{cite web |title=Patents by Inventor Fredric Vinna |url=https://patents.justia.com/inventor/fredric-vinna |website=Justia Patents |access-date=1 May 2024}}

Work with Nine Inch Nails

Things Falling Apart (2000 album) – graphic designer
And All That Could Have Been (2002 concert film) – director, editor, director of photography{{IMDb name|1056593}}
"The Hand That Feeds" (2005 music video) – director,{{cite web |url=http://nin.com/access/2-26/index.html |title=Acces |author=Trent Reznor |publisher=nin.com |date=2005-02-26 |access-date=2008-02-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424094308/http://nin.com/access/2-26/index.html |archive-date=2009-04-24}} editor{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1056593/otherworks|title=Rob Sheridan|website=IMDb|access-date=6 September 2017}}
With Teeth (2005 album) – art director
Beside You in Time (2007 concert film) – director, editor, art director
"Survivalism" (2007 music video) – co-director
Year Zero (2007 album) – art director
Ghosts I–IV (2008 album) – art director
The Slip (2008 album) – art director
Lights in the Sky (2008 tour) – art director
Pretty Hate Machine (2010 reissue) – art director
Hesitation Marks (2013 album) – art director
Twenty Thirteen (2013–14 tour) – art director

File:Rob Sheridan.jpg

Creative direction

Sheridan had been working with Trent Reznor for his other band How to Destroy Angels as the art director and was responsible for the visual design of the band’s live tour in April 2013.{{cite news |last1=Hurst |first1=Nathan |title=Trent Reznor's How to Destroy Angels Plays Light Like an Instrument |url=https://www.wired.com/2013/04/trent-reznors-how-to-destroy-angels/ |access-date=4 May 2024 |publisher=Wired |date=Apr 19, 2013}} He also created the artwork/package for the soundtrack release of the Academy Award-winning and Golden Globe-winning score for The Social Network, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.{{cite web|url=http://rob-sheridan.com/TSN/|title=the social network soundtrack: artwork by rob sheridan|website=rob-sheridan.com|access-date=6 September 2017}}

Sheridan has explored alternate reality games and AI art, going viral in May 2022 with an AI-generated art piece.{{cite news |last1=Ong |first1=Alexis |title=An Experimental Horror ARG is Testing the Boundaries of AI Art |url=https://www.theverge.com/design/23206001/midjourney-ai-art-horror-arg-game-rob-sheridan |access-date=1 May 2024 |publisher=The Verge |date=Jul 15, 2022}} In 2023, he circulated images of a supposed satanic fashion show, which sparked a flurry of social media posts from people who thought it was a genuine New York Fashion Week event. The images were 100 percent computer generated with AI and Photoshop, through a chain of all-digital processes summarized under the term "syntography".{{cite news |title=Images of a 'Satanic Fashion Show' were Digitally Created, Not Taken at New York Fashion Week |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N35924Q/ |access-date=1 May 2024 |work=Reuters |publisher=Reuters Fact Check |date=Mar 1, 2023}}

Sheridan has also been long known for his work shooting, directing, and editing for other artists and musicians. Recently, in 2015, Sheridan shot, directed, and edited a video for the band The Black Queen called "Ice To Never". [https://vimeo.com/140036455] He has also worked with David Fincher on the soundtrack for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,{{cite web |title=PEARL JAM Releases 'Wreckage' Live Video |url=https://blabbermouth.net/news/pearl-jam-releases-wreckage-live-video |website=blabbermouth.net |date=2024-08-12 |access-date=2024-08-21}} and Maynard James Keenan, creating visuals and ambience for Puscifer's 2015-2017 shows.

= Live stage visuals =

In 2024, Sheridan worked with Pearl Jam to create the live stage visuals for their 2024/2025 Dark Matter tour. He set up a lab, to capture chemical reactions and light interactions at 1,000 frames per second using a macro lens. This marked the band's first use of such video visuals on tour, with Sheridan's work also appearing in their "Wreckage" live music video.{{cite web |title=Pearl Jam’s world tour has a different look. This WA artist designed it |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/pearl-jams-world-tour-has-a-different-look-this-wa-artist-designed-it/ |website=seattletimes.com |date=2024-05-22 |access-date=2024-08-21}}

Recognition

In December 2008, in recognition for his work in art direction on the Ghosts I–IV box set, Sheridan was nominated for a Grammy award for "Best Box Set or Limited Edition Package"{{cite web

| url = http://grammys.com/grammy_awards/51st_show/list.aspx#24

| title = The 51st Annual Grammy Awards Nominations List - Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package nominees

| publisher = National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

| access-date = 2009-02-08}} and in 2013 for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.