It struck me from the first moment I saw it on a design-oriented aggregator, jumping off the screen with its gorgeously marred physicality.  I quickly learned it was the work of Danish photographer Mathias Vestergaard, whose art was wide-ranging and thoroughly invigorating, and the photograph was titled ‘Dendrites Imposed by Terror.’  It was as if the encompassing picture frame could not stop the image itself from crumbling and disintegrating.  Yet the bold yellow color contained a bright vitality that should be at odds with its utterly destroyed quality.  Instead it harmonized perfectly.

With its dichotomy of vibrant color and sense of destruction, ‘Dendrites’ was an image I returned to many times throughout the creation of my upcoming Aquarelle album ‘Sung In Broken Symmetry.’  It left such a deep impression that it was unequivocally my first choice as cover art.  An email of effusive praise was sent to Vestergaard several months ago, dancing around the idea of asking permission to use it for the album artwork.  Much to my dismay the answer was yes as he even created an exclusive crop of the photograph for the cover.  I couldn’t imagine it any other way.

See more from the ‘Signs of Times’  series and visit his website for all his works.  Pre-order the ‘Sung In Broken Symmetry’ LP at Students of Decay and listen to sound samples here.