Earlier this year, Deftones continued their saga of dreamy artistic progression with Ohms, an album whose very cover art gives off a sense of outsider mystery. The album sleeve’s iconic eyes are sure to inspire fans and artists for generations to come — but what happens when an artist is specifically given that cover and told to create something inspired by it? That’s exactly what Australian visual artist Callum Preston was tasked with doing; now, you can watch a video interview in which Callum and Deftones frontman Chino Moreno discuss Ohms‘ artistic inspiration and Callum’s process.
In a video by our brothers at Australian metal site Maniacs, Callum, Chino, and Deftones creative director Frank Maddocks discuss how Callum created a unique piece of illuminated artwork, using the inspiration he got from the music and cover of Ohms.
“I was presented with Ohms and asked, ‘What can you create that’s inspired by this record?'” says Callum. “Especially just listening to ‘Ohms’ as the first single, I was taken by the swelling guitar and drums. It kind of reminded me of bubbling, flowing water or something. And then, seeing the artwork of the eyes, instantly I pictured them being backlit. So I thought, Why don’t we take this artwork and use water as the tool to make it?”
Callum asks Chino how he’d describe the feeling of the artwork without being able to show them the cover itself.
“It has this iconic kind of feel to it — kind of lo-fi-ish, you know what I mean?” says Chino. “I think the only idea I get from it was doing something a little more lo-fi, almost even punk-looking. I don’t know if that inspired those eyes at all, but when I saw them, I was like, YES. It’s way different from anything we’ve done recently. The eyes, they have this kind of hopeful look, but also kind of a sad look. There’s a lot of emotion…and the music goes through kind of a roller coaster of emotion as well, so it kind of fits.”
Check out the video below:
You can check out more awesome videos like this at Maniacs’ YouTube page.
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Words by Chris Krovatin
