Further to the "What the Aperture 2 Training Book Cover Means To You" contest, I was finally able to track down the artist Kent Oberheu. He was thrilled by the variety of interpretations and said it was "uncanny that every point I sought to express was picked up by one person or another."

And just like a good critque of our photographs can help us realize more about ourselves, Kent said that people's comments often shed light on his own work in ways he hadn't realized, which he can learn from.

To see more of his work, check out the following links:

http://www.semafore.com/ (Where he plans to add the book covers soon)

calendar pages:
http://www.semafore.com/design/calendar/index.html

fine art:
http://www.semafore.com/fine_art/print/index.html

"I'm amazed at how many people have responded about the cover, their insight and how freely its expressed, as well as how everyone draws their own conclusions to the illustrations. This was precisely the reason we went this route, eliminating concrete imagery in favor of interpretive works. It's wonderful to see people question, then develop an understanding of the illustrations. Every person brings their own insight, and meaning. In some of the cases, it's as if the commentators are reading my mind in some of their notes. I've never witnessed anything like this before. Thank you for doing this."

Kent Oberheu