And here’s the original ‘Der Dunkle’ by Kain Morgenmeer (@kain_morgenmeer ) He created this back in 2016, a few months before we first spoke and started working together, and it’s one of his first illustrations that I saw, and he spoke to me about. According to his DeviantArt profile (that’s where I discovered his art) he was inspired to create this illustration by Gottfried Benn’s ‘Der Dunkle’ poem, which tells of the everlasting presence of Death within fleeting moments of life, and how it weighs on peoples’ minds. I initially contacted Kain for a commission for three other illustrations (they will all be shown here in the coming weeks) but then decided that this particular one would also fit within ’Soulflowing Fire’.
I decided to use it right after a very internal story from late 2007, of a troubled man spending his time and mind between two women, Zoe and Sophia, and meeting both of them on a deep dark night that he chooses to in the end spend alone with his thoughts and personal torment. After the book was released, I decided to rename the illustration and call it ‘Apotheosis’; to me, on that dark night, what the unnamed hooded figure represents is a state of content, the state of peace and happiness with oneself, where nothing else matters and everything is finally clear in our mind’s eyes and in our hands – all within the context of the Nietzschean affirmation, that accepts all the minuscule details, comedies and tragedies in the vortex of life, and still affirms it.