Q & A with Andon Hristov
We connected with Andon Hristov online back in 2015 and found an amazing audio and visual creator. A few mails back and forth we knew we had a special talent on our hands and immediately got him on board our latest and final project for 2015 (Exit Methods). Hailing from Yambol City in Bulgaria, Andon is a true artist at the core who creates pictures, videos, animations, musical compositions and everything art. We are proud to have him as part of the crew, look out for more from him to follow!
Andon kindly agreed to give us some in-depth information on his story and inspiration which we followed up with some Q&As to get deeper into the head of this Creative, enjoy the read!
“Everything started as soon as I could see the world around me. I used to have horrible nightmares all the time and was not sure what was real and what wasn’t. That traumatic period got me to try and recreate the things I saw and felt in the dreams, and so I started to draw weird visions of horror at the very early age of 1 year. Some time passed, I was 18 years old and had a huge amount of drawings and creations of all sorts that depicted my past out of body experiences. I decided that this way of treatment was working perfectly for my case and got into animation. Not long ago I had finished my 3rd animated short film, also inspired mainly by the madness that was in front of my eyes while asleep.
As for music, I got into it when I was introduced to some DAW and found that I could recreate the soundscapes and add an extra dimension to my creations. Here I am now, with all of those artistic skills and still doing the thing I love, that is to recreate as accurate as possible the other side of the coin and if I manage to strike a chord while doing it, then that’s great.”
Q1: You were born in Bulgaria during the 80`s. What was the setting like, countryside, city, anything significant?
80.’s were cool, but I remember things from before the time I was born. When I told mother and father they were confused and shocked but confirmed the information to be correct. I don`t know, 1988 was awesome. I remember computer magazines, old books , good food, nice games with actual live people. Kids now don’t have that and it’s a problem that needs fixing. Everything had that old school feel to it you know, like analog warmth but everywhere. That time was just more “real” to me than now. It`s like I was born exactly when I was supposed to.
The times themselves were not as hard as our current situation in Bulgaria. People had money and there were plenty of jobs on offer, the problem was that we did not have actual items to spend all the money on. So later things changed and money became a huge issue, but isn’t it always like this. Yambol is a small town that used to be full of actors and painters, but now all of them are scattered around the globe.
The town is lovely, it is really close to nature and it is nice and quiet. We have 2 middle sized mountains close to my block and a river flowing past the houses. I am mostly inspired by random places such as parks and industrial sites. I LOVE THE 1988 FEEL AND JUST CAN’T SEEM TO GET AWAY FROM IT. Feels like an electronic room full of colors and weird robotic figures which emit light and talk using IDM.
Q2: Do you have any formal training or studied art at any point?
I studied Arts in junior high, but they could not teach me anything new. I already had all the knowledge somehow etched into my brain. It was well boring to have to go to school and be laughed at for being a quiet and closed person. Then I went to study Fine Arts in Sofia/Bulgaria, I guess I was looking for like-minded people to spend time with. Again I was not taught anything knew.
After that I felt like animating my drawings and so I studied 3d Animation for Maya via an online intensive 3 year course at the Academy of Arts University. Finally some new awesome things were shown to me which opened a lot of closed doors. Artistic wise, I was now able to make my drawings live and breathe.
That was more than enough for me, but my parents wanted me to go further into Animation as they felt it really resonated with me. I was like “whatever”, so I went to study 3D, 2D, stop motion Animation arts in London (Middlesex University), which I graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 2014.
Q3: Any exhibitions, commissioned pieces, other publication or use of your artwork out there – or in the pipeline?
Not a lot of exhibitions actually, just a few small ones which I believe were totally unsuccessful. For a small town like Yambol, we do not have a lot of people appreciating art or actually willing to spend money on an art piece. I did sell like maybe 4 paintings to the owner of a huge furniture company, but that’s about it.
Also I never used to go to many exhibitions, I was too cocky and thought no one deserved my special attention (only now I see that was my main problem). Nowadays I have become friends with all the gallery owners and we talk of future plans for exhibition of my works of art. Furthermore, by visiting and respecting other people`s work I have found they would also be interested in me. Give to receive I guess.
Q4: Tell us about your latest short-film “2035”.
“2035” was my 3rd year graduation film for Middlesex Uni at London. People loved it, but not a lot of attention was given to it. I must work on my narrative more and not on the visuals so much. I had to go through 3 years of hard work to learn this life lesson, BUT I AM GRATEFULL I DID. People at MDX Uni are so cool, open minded and always ready for fun stuff to do, especially on my course. We were known as the crazy animation class.
The film is a short story that takes place in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world where people fight the evil executor machines, which have been released by the world government to eradicate all non-royal blood. And then how a boy cyborg and a girl try to survive in a battle against the executioners.
Q5: What type of music do you listen to while you create your artwork if any, and why?
All kinds, but mostly I open up FL studio and put on an old noise generator project which I made so it could put me to sleep. I am sort of a stressed person and need noises from nature so I can relax. I also listen to a lot of Soundcloud random artists from my wall feed. Genres mostly include IDM, techno, house, acid, ambient, dark ambient, drone and stuff that absolutely do not have a vocal on them (yes a vocoder is considered to be a vocal too).
Q6: When and how did you get into music production?
I am not sure about the age, it was maybe at 17? But the one that got me to go into music was my beloved brother. He had just started to learn FL 5 and I found his creations mind-blowing (next level work that should get loads more attention). So he was showing me all this unbelievable stuff that I had only dreamed about learning one day. And well, time passes and you learn every day and become better and better, until one day the software is a slave to you and not the other way around.
Q7: The soundscapes that you found you could recreate, are you referring to soundscapes in your dreams – can you try describe it?
Yes totally, I dream and control my dreams really well nowadays. I am able to be in there and have my awareness of the things that happen there. Then I would hear something like a melody coming out of all directions, it’s like the dream breathes using those melodies, and then I start making acid lines and beats and the idea evolves and you wake up and open a simple project to recreate it at 02% volume with earplugs on. Because the dream memories are very gentle and can easily go erased if I hear some other noise as I wake up.
Q8: What gear do you use?
I use FL Studio, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (I don’t like 12 though). I do not use a lot of 3rd party plugs as they do not have an easy way of automation. Mostly I use the 3+OSC and drum machine samples.
Q9: Do you play any instruments?
Never went to learn notes, but I can play some classical pieces by ear on a piano with both hands (woohoo!). I have tried drums and well, that was awkward. I have a bongo drum and I also used to beatbox a little.
Q10: Any releases with labels or independently?
One release titled “Internal sadness” for Bludclot Recordings, and I am happy to say that some people supported it which is really nice of them. It makes me want to continue creating music and get to a higher level of skill. THANK YOU WE LOVE YOU
Q11: Any specific musical influences?
At the very beginning my older brother introduced me to The Prodigy, then we started to find bands together. There were no CD’s back then so we had loads of old audio cassettes which we totally played all the time at max volume in the kitchen. One day a friend of mine introduced me to his majesty Richard David James and I was reborn. I love Goldie and a lot of great new emerging IDM artists on Soundcloud such as MopFunk, BeatWife, Anaxfer, Carsten Von Pflum, Dave Monolith, Culprate, Lithium Flux to name a few. They are all truly amazing artists that help me shape my style.
Images © Andon Hristov
