11. Miles DavisBitches Brew
I was looking around at Mati Klarwein imagery because all his stuff was really great. I could have chosen one of several, but this one is the best, to be honest. Yes, it’s very classic and everybody knows that, but his stuff is so incredibly fluid. It’s really soulful, fluid and very human. It really captures this synthesis of psychedelic culture and mindset. A lot of Afrocentric and multicultural symbolism, cultural motifs, and it’s just really vibrant. It’s like a burning flame.
Bitches Brew is so experimental. It’s very out-there and psychedelic. Whether intentionally on Klarwein’s part or not, the artwork certainly lends itself to that mindset. It captures a phase of Davis’ extremely well. It wouldn’t work for all of his stuff so much, but it does work for this.
I think I’ve been influenced by that aspect of him – there’s a lot of emotion in his work. The high contrast here, it’s very symbolic. There’s a message to it too, which I think is really important. It’s something that nourishes the soul. Very transpersonal. He’s good at that sort of work: very multi human. Obviously with the cultural crossover and styles. What he depicts is very humanistic.
