Syme was inspired by the suit-clad man on Belgian surrealist Rene ... Syme had previously employed one of the Hemispheres models for a nude Rush pose — ironically, though, it wasn't the ballet ...

As Geddy Lee put it in a recent Rolling Stone interview, Rush ... Hemispheres co–art director Hugh Syme that riffs on the album’s quintessentially over-the-top cover art showing a nude man ...