Lark أُعيد تغريده
i wanted to tell you how we made the visuals for nerve-bloom
i did it with Natalia Kleszczewska and Natalie Liu .
Natalia Kleszczewska is a painter , she painted the creatures and the backgrounds .
Natalie Liu is a computer graphics director , she shaped the digital dimension of the work .
my role in it was a creative director , bringing in the singer-songwriter tradition , where emotionally precise things happen inside the structure of a song . i guided colour pallettes , textures and the environments the music happens in .
to make this possible , during the process , natalia often had to paint many shapes and sizes , different textures and layers of colours . natalie then developed the visuals, designing and overseeing CGI elements , and finding ways for the digital to sit organically alongside Natalia’s world . and include my dramaturgy and creative direction.
we spent 7 months talking and working together , dedicated to relish in the craft of blending hand-made visuals with digital experimentation , 3D design and commit it to physical display technology . a lot of time was spent on researching different tools and techniques to find what worked best at each stage in the song .
like i’ve done before , i wanted to merge old things with tech , giving it soul & a meaning .
to paint a painting is an analog craft but computer programming is craftmanship too !! and both can co-exist ,
.....encouraging each other to bloom even further towards a mutual world .
there is a tradition in pop music for the mucisian to choose a video director . in the art world , this is called “curation” , but where we came from , it was natural that the musician would have strong opinions on what your song needed , which mood , colours , textures & storyline . today this is called “creative director” and it is something we didn’t credit ourselves with in the 90s , but i am starting to understand this better now .
i don´t think of me as a visual artist . because my heart is music . everything i do comes from a sonic point of view .
this is something i have called “sonic symbolism” , sound made visual , a reverse synesthesia .
when you listen to a song for the first time , it is like swallowing a whale , you need to feel the whole musical sculpture in one go .
the structure of a song has always been extremely important to me : what shape it is .
this is part of the craft of being a singer-songwriter
........... we are tune sculpturors .......
since i am talking about the visuals for nerve bloom it is impossible to not mention the avatars in my music videos .
they have replaced the storyteller with anattempt to connect to the more universal element of music , through animation, avatars , puppetry both digital and analog .
for me they are marionettes in a puppet-theatre , hopefully in a similar realm as the jungian archetypes
( which we all can act out the characteristics of ...)
.... i feel nerve-bloom is a natural continuation ....
an animated avatar archetype
singing you a song
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Avatars, animation and archetypes: Nerve Bloom (remix) – on display at Listasafn Íslands / National Gallery of Iceland until September 20th 2026.
The production of this film was made possible with the generous support of #bottegaveneta.
English
