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[flowgunart]

The artwork - Avdey

Listen to the album here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL94fP4d-pA_SXR3q4nGkqODjjXuLc1rH3 Avdey’s Bandcamp: https://avdey.bandcamp.com/ 0. Inception:

The story began when I heard that Mustapha was working on an album cover for Avdey’s debut album. I didn’t know him at the time, but we had a friend in common. I simply suggested that I can help with it. Soon enough, he contacted me and briefed me about its general concept. I liked the ideas and I quickly replied by sending him a few messy ballpoint pen thumbnails. He immediately entrusted me with the whole project and gave me total artistic freedom. I opted not to share with him the progress until the artwork is finalized, and although he was increasingly curious, he didn’t mind.

Designing the cover was in a way my adventure through the meditative and mindful journey that the album calls for. The creative process requires digging into our minds to pull ideas and materialize them. These ideas can be easily accessible when the subject matter is more tangible; but trying to represent the abstractionist nature of music, especially of the psychedelic genre, did not only call for my technical skills as an artist but had me navigate the labyrinths of my thought, knowledge, inspirations, personal experiences, and traumas old and new. The hypnotic music helped me drift into a continuous reflective state to extract not only images but conclusions about my own self. The commission quickly became a sort of a cathartic release, coherently injected with my views about the world. It was a bumpy ride for me; one that I had to revisit, with a less mastered art form, to write this article. I hope that the grittiness of my brush doesn’t turn into unbearable prose when I pick up the pen.

Initially, I gave no details about the artwork to avoid spoiling what the project members want to keep as a heuristic mystery and to leave the painting itself open for interpretation. This way, I also spare the audience from my boastful preaching and blabbering that I believe is of little interest to others at best.

With the growing interest, I gave it a second thought. I came to realize that my design is only one humble take at what the album is about, and it is pretentious of me to think that it could spoil it. I also recognized that knowing more about my reflections and personal background can only add value to the artwork, not subtract. In the end, I decided to write a thorough breakdown of most of its elements so that my thinking process doesn’t get lost to time.

The illustration is in a way my dream about “Gates of Horn and Ivory”. Not a guideline, but one mere example from the endless meditative explorations awaiting to be had to the rhythms. The same applies to this deconstruction of the artwork, which would make it a dream within a dream if you will. Both are only meant to inspire and not to restrict.

In the following, I will share my interpretations and contemplations about the artwork that vary from general culture to intimate trivia to, God forbid, current personal opinions. Sometimes pointing towards, sometimes eluding to, and sometimes keeping away from certain readings. To remain unbiased, you are encouraged to first find your elucidations before reading on.

1. Knock Knock:

Since the album is on the psychedelic side, I knew I had a lot of leeway with colors. I opted to use textbook color theory, assigning to each part one of the three basic complementaries; the yellow/violet being the main duet, as it provides the most value contrast. Designing the shapes with value in mind first makes the painting read better in black and white and from a distance. Then I chose to make a festival out of hues, especially in the wings. It was a challenge to balance the flat and symbolic stamp-like quality of the design with the illustrative and painterly 3-dimensional one; and to imbue it with different meanings to encapsulate the eclectic ideas behind the album, without making it look too crammed.

Before starting to listen to the album, I was listening a lot to “The Cramps”. The initial idea was influenced by it and it was on the edgy side. For example, I wanted the first read to be of a phallus. After all, it’s what young uninspired boys love to draw everywhere. I had the idea of giving it a more sophisticated take by drawing the rod of Caduceus and making the snakeheads read as testicles from afar. For some reason, I had one quote from Tom Cruise’s character in the movie “Magnolia” repeating in my head all the time. The more I listened to the album, the more it pulled me into its mystical atmosphere. Although I kept this idea until the end, I tuned down the phallic image quite a bit, and you probably didn’t notice it. Hitherto.

2. The lemonhead:

In Greek mythology, the rod of Caduceus is Carried by the nimble Hermes, herald of Gods and protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, and merchants. In the modern age, this wand is oftentimes confused with the rod of Asclepius to also symbolize healing. I don’t blame them: Setting upon a journey to obtain a divine message that appeases our souls. This interpretation seems to resonate with what the album is about.

I then chose to personify the rod to make it reminiscent of Icarus. A play of words that bridged me to another culture, depicting “an Icaro”: the protective song received from the spirits of the plants. This is one reason for giving the flying sentinel a vegetational lower body. I also used the roots to symbolize tradition, as the project’s name is unearthed from a civilization almost lost to Tunisians and the world. A more personal rationale is to represent my situation: Holding the highest level of aircraft pilot certificate, I found myself helplessly grounded without work due to different politico-economic reasons. Although I’m not willing to give up on the uniform just yet, I dived deep into myself to reconnect with my inner child. Besides aviation, drawing was my childhood passion. Reinventing myself as an artist is bringing me purpose and joy in these eldritch and uncertain times, and the artwork for “Gates of Horn and Ivory” happens to be the first commission I accept.

Moving on, the resulting illustration is evocative of another deity. Although more distant in time, it is closely tied to the history of Tunisia. The Phoenician God Eshmun, also a God of healing, was oftentimes represented as a man with two wings and two snakes around him.

Eshmun was once a mortal man. Being stalked by the Goddess Ishtar, he chose instead to castrate himself and ended up dying. She then resurrects him as an immortal God, forcing him to be with her eternally. In Tunisia, the temple of Eshmun is now replaced by “the Acropolium of Carthage”. Once a cathedral, it is now a place where many cultural activities happen, most notably music festivals. A story and a place that I’m particularly fond of…

The design of the head, although resembling a lemon, is inspired by Asian architecture. The Tibetan pagoda has five main structures that stand for the void, wind, fire, water, and earth. I used these shapes to design the figure and then inserted a vertical eye with centric circles. Although the reference is more modern, it is still inspired by Asian culture, more precisely anime. In “Full Metal Alchemist”, the eye of God is a being that exists on the other side of the gate. It drags curious alchemists through it and forces the truth into their minds.

On the chest, I paid a tribute to the Japanese artist Sorayama; and around the heart, I painted the mandala present on the cover of Alan Watt’s book “Become what you are”.

The limbs are a denotation of the east and the west. The left arm is holding a “Japamala” and the blue snake flows gracefully through the “Gyan Mudra” hand sign, commonly used in eastern meditation to help with the breathwork. The right arm contains a tattoo pattern common among indigenous Brazilians, a tribute to our friend Leonardo, and the red serpent pierces through the palm as a reference to Christianity.

3. The alpha and the omega:

The serpents twirl around the main figure, before unfolding to take on the shape of the Omega symbol (Ω). Omega, being the last letter in the Greek alphabet, often denotes “the end of something”. In spirituality, it is related to spiritual evolution and enlightenment, being the end of the cycle and the beginning of a new cycle. Its similarity with the Hindu symbol “om” is discernible.

The triangular composition, partly inspired by Frank Frazetta’s work, combines with the omega symbol to refer to an important emblem in the Tunisian heritage: the Amazigh fibula (khlel) is a garment accessory with its own set of symbolism. Still popular today in traditional dresses, it is also frequently used as a motif to refer to the Amazigh culture as a whole.

4. Why Snakes:

Then “why snakes?”. I noticed this question when the album was featured on a local radio show. In the Abrahamic religions, Moses erects a bronze serpent to heal his people from snakebites when they look at it. This is redolent of the idea in modern psychotherapy of looking back in detail at our traumas and facing what triggers them until we come to terms with them, instead of trivializing the events or seeking avoidance and escapism from the whole situation, which would make the emotional wounds fester and the sickness spread.

More interestingly, in zoology, serpents retreat when they become lethargic and vulnerable, only to shed their skin and emerge anew. From a torpid state, they get rid of the old worn-out skin that does not fit them any longer, and all shiny they sprout in a state of rapid activity, ready to take on the world. Thus, serpents are not only a symbol of destruction; but also, one of longevity, immortality, transformation, and rebirth. A snake is not only Jormungandr, usher of Ragnarok; it is also the cleansing spirit of the Punga Amarilla tree…

Oftentimes, when we’re psychologically hurt, we retreat to lick our wounds and try to re-establish things to their status quo ante. Maybe we try to fit inside a new colder skin that’s not ours to shelter our vulnerable broken pieces from turning to dust. Snakes teach us that the path forward is not by feeling sorry for ourselves and holding to nostalgia. It is, as painful and hard as it seems, through flaying ourselves and growing new skin from the inside out. After all, looking back at our life enables us to deeper understand ourselves, and that understanding has to surface up, replacing naïve presuppositions about the world, but most importantly, about our own selves. Aren’t snakes a better metaphor for convalescence than a more docile animal licking his wounds?

5. Demonhead and Wehiwehi:

There’s a clear dichotomy between the two beasts that is not shown only by the contrasting colors of blue and red. In a subdued and confident manner, the blue snake (Wehiwehi) is sitting back to enjoy his pipe, while the red one (Demonhead) is aggressively shooting forward, with the whole earth on his tongue, ready to be swallowed. While the first is grounded, even partially stuck in the roots of tradition, the second glazes over them in total disregard. This design is meant to reflect the Zen nature and contentedness found in Asian philosophy that encourages the enjoyment of little things, and to criticize the obscenely insatiable consumerist society of the west that is destroying our planet, and sometimes our Humanity. Another interpretation is that the lemonhead had the world in his heart and it got snatched from him by the horrid creature to leave only a hole. Most of us are no strangers to the agonizing void and the growing cynicism that follow a heartbreak.

While conceptualizing the heads, I wanted to pay homage to a brilliant renaissance artist: Hieronymus Bosch was ahead of his time with his affinity for illustrating macabre and nightmarish scenes and fantastic creatures. The demonhead is almost a faithful reproduction of his representation of a demon. For Wehiwehi, I chose the boa constrictor as a reference, another tribute to Brazil. To give it more character, I added the beard and the smoking pipe of none other than Alan Watts.

6. It is a bloody pipe, Jaganmata:

If you happen to look at a high-res version of the painting, you might notice that the pipe is mended with gold. This is “Kintsugi”: the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with precious metal. The philosophy behind this practice consists of treating breakage and repair as part of the history of an object instead of disregarding or disguising them.

Modern times incentivize obsolescence and replacement. Social media gratify attention-seeking, and promote the consumption of ever-new content; pumping our egos and fear of missing out to unprecedented levels. Making simple decisions is becoming increasingly difficult with every newly available choice, let alone finding the resolve for any sort of commitment. Even people seem to have become an expendable mass-produced product, easily branded “toxic” and disposed of out of convenience.

The human psyche is struggling to hold its own against all these rapid changes, but there are always new distractions to make us look the other way. These distractions fuel in us a frantic want to experience more during our lifetime. Ironically, this is making us skip shallowly across the surface, missing out on the most profound and impactful human experiences to be had. Even the meaningful experiences we come across are seldom given the opportunity to sink in.

In relationships, our shattered parts are, more often than not, carried over with us to new ones. Like in kintsugi, instead of being considered a flaw, coming to understand what our partner went through and be considerate about it can add another level of intimacy. Working through it, even partially mending it together, usually results in a more honest and meaningful connection.

This old philosophy comes at odds with the recently popular “good vibes only” approach to spirituality. The latter is an understandable consequence of these confusing and painful times, atoning them by promoting positivity and hedonism. Nevertheless, I believe that this entitled viewpoint ignores important parts of Humanity, perpetuating the same cycle in the process.

To me, spirituality is most and foremost a deep dive into the human condition, not to hypertrophy one set of emotions and feelings over others, but to get us to better understand ourselves and our place in the universe, individually and as a species. This can be experienced with everything we do, big and small. As long as we are willing to look for it, we can find it; oftentimes at unexpected places.

When I was at my lowest, I met a person who, with her affection and her kind words of acceptance, helped me theorize a life where I’m feeling better. The experience was an ephemeral glimmer at the end of the tunnel, nevertheless, enough for me to keep going. With the golden mending, I discreetly inscribed her name to be immortalized in the artwork.

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