Rihanna unveils ‘Anti’ at art gallery event

Rihanna’s upcoming album has largely been a mystery -- until now.

The pop star invited fans and journalists to a swanky event at a downtown art gallery Wednesday night in which she unveiled a series of paintings that make up the packaging for her album, “Anti.”

Anticipation was high inside the MAMA Gallery in the Arts District as fans snapped pictures, noshed on hors d’oeuvres, sipped drinks and buzzed about what was in store. Would the singer appear? Would she announce the album’s title and release date?

Upon arrival, guests were handed long, thick red ribbons without context. Entering the gallery, the album’s title “Anti” was painted on one wall, with the word’s definition underneath (it wasn’t until later in the evening that the singer officially announced it was the album’s title, and she did so on Instagram).

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A small room with rows of red balloons tied to red ribbons made for a favorite backdrop for fans to snap photos.

On the walls hung large oil paintings covered in Braille. The largest piece, the singer’s first initial in braille, was matted inside a charcoal frame.

Fans were instructed to wear a red blindfold, run their hands across the frame and leave their imprint on the cream-colored canvas.

Three other pieces were titled “Fire,” with the Braille appearing to be lyrics from a track off the album. One piece read: “Falling fast backwards into deep water. As my eyes opened I knew that I was naked. Floating on the waters surface. Alone with the reflections of myself.”

About an hour and a half into the party, Rihanna arrived to unveil the final three pieces, which were masked with black cloth, as well as introduce contemporary artist Roy Nachum, with whom she collaborated on the packaging.

“He sees things beyond the surface, which is why we even decided to collaborate,” she said. “We talked about what I wanted visually, what would make me the happiest girl in the world. This is my favorite album cover ever.”

The cover shows a childhood version of Rihanna, with a black balloon strung tightly to her wrist and a gold crown covering her eyes.

“This is me as a little girl,” the singer said of the photo, taken from her first day of preschool. “I brought this one to him and he really reinterpreted it his own way with exactly the message that I wanted.”

The album’s front and back covers will also be covered in Braille -- it’s the first time an album has incorporated physical Braille, the singer’s reps noted in a news release -- and feature a poem written by Chloe Mitchell.

“The whole idea of the Braille is, sometimes the people with sight are the blindest,” Rihanna said as she unveiled “Anti’s” back covers, which are the same image as the front but painted in multiple, intersecting views.

Despite releasing a handful of singles, visuals and teasing collaborators, Rihanna has been tight-lipped about specifics for the album, her eighth.

Early last year, it was announced she would release a concept album inspired by the animated family film “Home,” in which she voiced the main character. It turned out to be a more traditional soundtrack, with Rihanna executive producing the album and contributing a number of tunes. The soundtrack was the first release through her own Westbury Road imprint under Roc Nation.

She’s spent much of the year teasing “Anti.”

In January, she dropped the album’s first single, “FourFiveSeconds,” without warning. The bare bones soft rocker featured Paul McCartney and Kanye West, who announced he was executive producing the album ahead of the trio’s performance at the Grammys.

Rihanna has also released “American Oxygen” and album interlude “James Joint,” and teased the Florence and the Machine-sampling “Only If For A Night.”

And to debut the video for the album smash “Bitch Better Have My Money,” the singer took dozens of her biggest fans on a wild cross-town surprise adventure.

No release date for “Anti” was announced, but her last four albums have all had November releases.

For more music news follow me on Twitter: @gerrickkennedy