Vakula is changing the artwork to a recent EP depicting Peggy Gou, Nastia, Nina Kraviz and The Black Madonna following criticism this week.
Per Aspera Ad Astra was released in February by Croatian label Barba Records under Mikhaylo Vityk’s Rocco Siffredi alias, named after an Italian adult-film actor. The three tracks are titled “Per Penis Ad Astra,” “The Elements” and “CODE P.” The illustration, by Wanda Kuchvalek, features the four DJs captaining a penis-shaped spaceship. He captioned the art on Instagram, “I dedicated this project to my beloved women, where we tried to portray the most beautiful dick that those girls on the cover could ever meet,” including “#fuckthesystem” among the hashtags.
While he announced the record on Instagram on March 1st, word of the artwork only spread wide after Nastia shared her disgust with it on Instagram yesterday. She also detailed having sexist interactions with Vakula in the past: “When I met him in 2015, he seriously told me I am shitty and not even a DJ, but if we come together he can teach me… I always knew he [was] such an arrogant and lost sexist, and simply idiot, who believes he is [the] one and only artist—comparing himself with Theo Parrish, but I didn’t expect he [would] go that far… His [biggest] problem is that he can’t handle our success.” She closed, “Can’t tag him here because he banned me last year.”
It’s not even just a pornstar Vakula’s referencing with us, it’s a guy famous for BRUTALISING women. Rape fantasy shit. It’s fucked up. I don’t need this shit. I’m just trying to do my job, make records and make people happy. I have a sense of humor about myself but this is low.
— THE BLACK MADONNA (@blackmadonnachi) April 26, 2019