The April edition of the und. Cover has been designed by young Athens-based illustrator Vaggelis Papaioannou, alias Lorentzo Lumiere. Vaggelis is a self-taught artist with a background in Political science who loves combining drawing on paper with digital editing techniques. His illustrations often include many layers of work including rearranging and multiplying elements from his hand drawings using very simple editing tools like MS Paint and some unorthodox use of Instagram features. His illustrations are often inspired by biology and particularly the forms of cells and single-cell organisms as seen through an electron microscope. This fascination with the microscopic is also reflected in the scale of the works, as he prefers working on a very small scale and likes using the smallest possible size of pens and brushes.

In addition to his more abstract work, Vaggelis has developed a more figurative visual language that incorporates elements of surrealism, fantasy, pop culture and queer aesthetics, as seen for example in his mash ups of Cavafy, Boticcelli’s Venus and many other recognisable references. Another part of his work deals with religious mockery in the form of self-portraiture, as in for example his Lorentzo and Child image of him holding a Pikachu like a Virgin Mary or his elaborate psychedelic drawing of him as a meditating Shiva. Vaggelis has also created many images inspired by and commenting on aspects of gay culture, and his work has been published in the (in)famous Butt Magazine. You can visit our Facebook page to see our new cover, and follow the artist on Instagram.