Astral Mind is the cognitive symbiosis of Jondix / D’Andrea
Astral Mind was born of pure collaboration. As Brion Gysin and William Burroughs crystalized, the third entity is brought to life through collaborative effort with no limitations, no ego or preconceived notion of how a thing may look. The challenge is only present if there is no trust in the third mind, the Astral Mind.
Jondix and I physically work on the pieces together or swapped between Barcelona and Portland. Lines are extended, drawn over, erased or teased out into entirely new forms. The three dimensional work is still playful though I feel it may become a larger component in the future.
We have always shared a love for music and the conjoining of music and visual. The few performers who embody this ideal and their attention to detail. We knew we’d like to involve a musician for Astral Mind II and the list of potential collaborators was short. Jonathan Hulten was number one. His own love of art and aesthetics is apparent and his solo music is otherworldly, an underworld Nick Drake with Butoh costuming and a poet’s quill. Jonathan was the ultimate embodiment of Astral Mind and his performance on that night was unbelievable.
As Jonathan performed, surrounded by the residents of the crypt, reverberations washed up through the floor. I was imagining a lone priest in the church above entranced by the angelic voice, brought to tears by the angelic voice emanating from below. Little did he know that the dark angel was signing an ode to blackness, beauty and art.
The Crypt Gallery is an actual crypt below the New St Pancras Church. It houses some number of remains in its labyrinthian corridors. Four caryatids guard the entrance. Each holds an empty water ewe and extinguished torch, symbols that they are guardians of the underworld through the doors, and for the night, the Astral Mind.
We were so thankful for the attendance… our fellow artists, world famous tattooers, poets, dancers, and stylists. El Fuego Press, a bi-lingual dark art magazine from Spain was in attendance and working on a feature.
Our wonderful friend Elena created a short video.
Screen printed show posters are available for purchase here.
Brooklyn, NY 2015
Astral Mind 1
Astral Mind 1 took place in Brooklyn at Three Kings Gallery.
London UK, 2019
Astral Mind II
Astral Mind 2 took place at the Crypt Gallery, London in April of 2019.
Bio
is an artist and freelance illustrator based in Olympia, Washington, where he runs the charitable imprint Samaritan Press. His painstakingly detailed art envisions natural and transcendent worlds, drawing inspiration from mystic traditions, biological illustration, typographic history, and classic psychedelic posters. D’Andreas graphics for bands including OM, Sleep, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor have garnered international acclaim. His work is his spiritual path.
Upon meeting in 2012, Jondix and D’Andrea discovered a shared reverence for illustration, transcendental pattern, and esoteric spiritual thought. They decided at this meeting to explore the path of collaboration by sending work between Portland and Barcelona.
Using additive and subtractive methods to ink over and under each other’s lines, they conjured the spirit of the “Astral Mind”, a term describing the unknown and unpredictable artistic entity which emerges out of true collaboration
is one of Spain’s great tattoo artists, and certainly one of the top protagonists of Eastern religious and esoteric tattoos, with a highly sophisticated ability to make superbly detailed mantras, geometry, knots and mendhi-influenced patterning that is both powerful and dark, yet elegant and beautiful. His lexicon of imagery borrows from the East, with usage of auspicious symbols, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, deities, and ritualistic objects.