Designer and illustrator Gustavo Eandi is always searching for a sense of connection

The last time we spoke to Argentinian-born designer and illustrator Gustavo Eandi was back in 2010. Since then, the Barcelona-based creative has gone from strength to strength, building up a (largely monochromatic) portfolio that features work for the likes of Madlib, Carharrt, and Brain Dead.

As a youth living in the Argentine seaside town of Mar del Plata, Gustavo passed the time by drawing comics. As he grew a little older, a skating obsession took hold and he was soon getting his hands on as many skate magazines as possible. Not just a handy source of tricks and tips, the likes of Thrasher and Basque publication Tres 60 Skate gave Gustavo an insight into the rudiments of graphic design.

Having done his homework, he began pumping out “posters and flyers for friends,” inspired by everyone from “brands like Pervert and Girl, to the artist Margaret Kilgallen,” he tells us.

Upping sticks and making the move to Barcelona in 2007, it wasn’t until 2010 that Gustavo bagged his first big commercial project. He found himself approached by Jeff Jank the art director at Stones Throw Records, and was asked to work on the cover for super-producer Madlib’s first Medicine Show series of records. “After that,” Gustavo tells us, “we kept working for various years and now we still sporadically do stuff together.”

He’s gone on to stay actively involved in music, working on record sleeves for the likes of musique concrète pioneer Luc Ferrari, consistently putting together amazing flyers, and even contributing a mind-warping 30-minute set of grainy, lo-fi Argentinian oddities for the highly-esteemed Blowing up the Workshop series of mixes.

Everything he touches – be it a poster or a pair of tracksuit bottoms – is adorned in a style that sits somewhere between “haunting Xerox scratchiness” and glorious tautness that makes looking at Gustavo’s work feel a little like watching an old slasher movie with a Coil record on as a soundtrack. Which, to be clear, is a very good thing.

When asked to tell us that project he’s most proud of to date, Gustavo answers a little hesitantly. “I’m not so sure,” he begins. “I’ve got works that I feel are aesthetically fine, but I think I prefer the stuff that I feel more connected to, the work that makes you feel good in a way that goes beyond just the finished result.”

Oh, and if you’ve ever wondered what Gustavo’s favourite entry in the Blowing up the Workshop series is, wonder no more: it’s this dungeon-crawling ambient odyssey mixed by John T. Gast.