Avi Engel

@aviengel.com

329 Followers 171 Following

artist & musician they/them aviengel.com https://mirlo.space/avi-engel www.patreon.com/aviengel

Cd edition of Seedhead by Avi Engel propped up with front cover on display beside a cream and black abyssinian guinea pig
Guinea pig napping under a blanket, with only the back of his head visible
Dear Honourable Julie Aviva Dabrusin, I am writing to you because I was revolted to see Carney's PR campaign video that launched yesterday, when the air quality in Ontario was the worst in the world. In this video, Carney dons a cowboy hat and speaks "as a former banker" about the benefits of the TMX pipeline.   People's homes are burning down on Collins First Nation, and Carney claims that "Canadians always look after each other." As the climate crisis accelerates and intensifies, building a new pipeline does not constitute "looking after" anyone in a meaningful and long-lasting way. It constitutes ecocide. I want to add my voice to the growing chorus of Canadians who see climate change as a true emergency, and are desperate for meaningful action. Avi Engel Toronto, ON aviengel.com
original abstract ink drawing evoking botany and faces on textured handmade Tibetan paper
Old photo of a young white dark-haired jewish man watching over 2 loaves of bread
Avi holds a four string electric guitar and wears a tank top that reads "no gods no billionaires"
In his book "Muse-Sick", Ian Brennan notes that "the point of punk rock was not that anyone could be a star but that there should be no stars at all". It's no understatement that the vast majority of our music industry does not follow this maxim. Across the board, the emphasis is on superstars, scale and staunch individualism as bastions of achievement that we should emulate, whether we want to or not: opting into unfavourable terms, embracing monoliths of sound and technology that block out all other light from the universe. Thankfully, not everyone wants to operate in this way, or believes it to be for the betterment of the music ecosystem. We don't believe in a one-size-fits-all scenario for musicians and labels, recognizing the difficulties that accompany such approaches when looking at groups of people from very different backgrounds and with variable needs. It's why we're open source and integrating the social web, and why we're constantly talking to other people about their own projects. We've been trying to reframe the dominant mode of the music industry, one of capitalist supremacy and winner takes all thinking, and entrusting communities with the tools to manage their own music scenes. One concept we kept coming back to was the idea of "constellations", because as much as Ian Brennan's words resonated with us, a sky without any stars at all would be just as bleak. Our stars are clusters of activity, not singular markers where one outshines another. Like this, we can take a step back and appreciate the entire web of light shining through the night sky."
abstract ink drawing of a dancing organic form on textured paper
Profile shot of two young non-binary people wearing ties and kissing
ink drawing of a forest spirit with a medusa like head - except the creatures coming out of their head are both bird and snake like.
ink drawing on textured handmade paper - it evokes tree branches and an abstract human-esque unfinished looking being at the centre
Avi in Montreal with a street mural of a cow whose midsection becomes a peacock
album cover for "Nocturne (soundtrack for an invisible film) by Avi Engel, featuring a black and white moth and handwritten title + name, white background, minimalist design
Avi poses under a giant painted mural of the fool tarot card in a Montreal sidestreet
Avi on a train, window seat
Photo of Avi with guitar in front of a gnarled tree with the text "Subvert is now live/Avi Engel is a co-owner of Subvert. Join us. Followed by url https://www.subvert.fm/aviengel
Selfie of Avi wearing a black shirt, window in the background
Two fluffy guinea pigs in the sunshine
ink drawing on textured handmade paper, features an ambiguous root bodied being with a protruding bird
Pair of glasses hanging in a tree
Tricolour abyssinian guinea pig peeks out from a pink fleece pocket
Photo of Avi on a nature trail, they are shot from below & looking a bit severe
ink drawing on handmade paper - features a central human-esque figure with animal and abstract forms emerging from them
minimalist ink drawing on textured paper of a human and bug-like critter with roots sprouting from their feet
Weird and not at all realistic ceramic hedgehog in a shop window
ink drawing of a bird whose body is made up of sprouting flowers, some of which have petals shaped like bird heads
Black-capped chickadee eats unsalted sunflower seeds from a human hand
White breasted nuthatch eating unsalted sunflower seeds from a human hand
cover art of Mote by Avi Engel: photo of a nebula-like sea anemone creature, softly illuminated centre frame, image bordered by darkness
black ink drawing on handmade paper that depicts a mountainside with a face, a bird flying into its mouth, and bare trees sprouting from its head. there is a lot of flowing texture
abstract ink drawing on handmade Tibetan paper - a human face and a dog-like creature are discernible - lots of black ink texture + aqua flourishes as well
Picture of two kids playing a game with a magnetic horseshoe and a bowl full of objects that respond to magnets
ink drawing of a mysterious abstract being called the formless mother of forms - she is standing on a textured surface and surrounded by small weird organic shapes, red painted border around the image
Various ink drawings and pens strewn on a drafting table, and a hand holding a pen
Portrait of a human holding a guinea pig
Mote cd by Avi C Engel in a gatefold sleeve, featuring full lyric booklet
ink drawing on handmade paper that evokes two faces emerging from wriggling black ink formations with green accents. Two red flowers float beside them
Severed plant with a green stem and sere top, lying on sidewalk
ink drawing on handmade paper evoking a canine, feline, and another nameless creature emerging from a tangle of ink foliage
abstract ink drawing on handmade textured paper, evoking a hooded character with glowing eyes, and lots of organic root-like shapes coming off them
abstract ink drawing on textured handmade paper
KALX radio Americana/Folk chart - 1 Wednesday – Bleeds (Dead Oceans) 2 Meklit – A Piece of Infinity (Smithsonian Folkways) 3 Sister Irene O’Connor – Fire of God’s Love (Freedom To Spend) 4 Katsy Pline – Live at Three Teardrops (S/R) 5 Mitski – The Land: The Live Album (Dead Oceans) 6 Neko Case – Neon Grey Midnight Green (Anti-) 7 Big Thief – Double Infinity (4AD) 8 Willie Nelson – Working Man: Willie Sings Merle (Legacy) 9 Phipps Pt. – Songs We No Longer Sing (S/R) 10 Mavis Staples – Sad And Beautiful World (Anti-) 11 Molly Tuttle – So Long Little Miss Sunshine (Nonesuch) 12 Avi C. Engel – Mote (Fenny Compton) 13 Lisa O’Neill – The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right (Rough Trade) 14 Alex G – Headlights (RCA) 15 Joan Baez – Farewell, Angelina (Craft) 16 Jeff Tweedy – Twilight Override (dBpm) 17 Parchman Prison Prayer – Another Mississippi Sunday Morning (Glitterbeat) 18 Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman (Loma Vista) 19 Waylon Jennings – Songbird (Thirty Tigers/Son of Jessi) 20 Murry Hammond – Trail Songs of the Deep (Fluff and Gravy) 21 Haley Heynderickx and Matt Garcia Conover – What of Our Nature (Fat Possum) 22 Funkwrench Blues – Mischief in the Musitorium (Need to Know) 23 Todd Snider – High, Lonesome and Then Some (Aimless)
maltese-cross style cassette package featuring an ink drawing of a sinuous dancing creature on the cover. cassette itself features a photo of a cow in shadow on one side and a dove on the other. cassette packaging is unwrapped and tracklisting and liner notes are both visible
wriggling ink organism on textured handmade paper
minimalist ink drawing of a bare-branched tree emerging from a large circular spiral
Lake ontario, water merging with skyline
ink and watercolour drawing on handmade textured paper
black ink drawing on textured handmade paper. depicts a face surrounded by waving reed-like forms, & bare trees where hair would be
Aerial view of a mason jar full of looseleaf tea: passionflower, rose petal, lavendar, skullcap and lemon balm
black and indigo ink drawing on handmade texured paper. depicts a number of faces + eyes in a playful and odd folk-art sort of style. lots of negative space and ambiguous forms
ink drawing on textured handmade paper - depicts a floating face bordered with flowing/morphing beings of ambiguous identity
Lawn marker ornament in the snow casting a shadow
Desk covered in many ink drawings
ink drawing on handmade paper -- silly beast with two faces purses a flying insect-like creature
Surreal, finely-detailed black ink drawing on handmade Tibetan lokta paper. A moon-like face, a snail with floating eyebrows, and roots that look like limbs emerge from the abstract roiling textured shape
nature-inspired, semi-abstract, finely detailed ink drawing on handmade Tibetan lokta paper - evocative of birds, forests, and roots
Stained glass church window with giant icicles hanging from the roof. Blue sky above.
Black and white photo of a smooth haired guinea pig in "melted piece of butter" position
Sepia hued medium shot portrait photo of a 30 something year old white jewish man with light coloured receding hair, wearing a suit
Giant snow piled up on a tree, coming up all the way to the doorstep of a small wooden birdhouse fastened to the trunk