This week’s cover is a homage to the genius Jean-Michel Basquiat. A week that is leading us into another with mixed emotions. Are we all hodling strong frens?

Early on in the week, we had decided that the cover for Gazette 86 would be inspired by Basquiat-style abstract art. The main agenda behind the making of this cover was to protest against the ills of toxic positivity in today’s world; that it is ok to have a bad day or to fail. Influencers and positivity mascots are constantly pushing these notions that we have to always try to be positive, which in many ways is not healthy for our mental health. It is of utmost importance to understand that we need both the good and bad to live life to the fullest.

Keeping these ideas in mind we set out to work on the cover artwork. I personally have always adored Basquiat’s work, so much so that I used to wear tees that I’d tear, distress, and scribble with pens, markers, and acrylic. It was indeed an experience to emulate his style for the cover. After browsing through many of his works I made a mental map of things that are common, such as the often appearing crowns, the shapes of faces & bodies, the types of teeth, empty spaces, the kind of typography, and the overall political commentary in his works. We tried our best to embody these into the cover to convey our story of toxic positivity.

You can find a positivity-policeman, Gary Pee pissing on people asking them not to complain, a man wearing a crown of pain, other scribbled notes, and bizarre imagery mixed into the artwork. The canvas felt like an empty dark room to scream out everything we felt about the topic without fear of judgment. It also embodies the chaos that a mind subject to the constant pressure of being positive is going through. 

The artwork was animated frame by frame and sound was mixed by master Dudly. Due to the limitations of Twitter’s fps recommendations we couldn’t go with the 12fps it was made in but it nevertheless still conveys the message and emotion.

We hope you vibe with this cover as much as we did making it for y’all. See you all next week with another cool cover frens!