Psychedelic Art - 5/6

Oct 27, 2013Jun 17, 2016

Mirror City – Amazing Psychedelic Timelapse of Kaleidoscopic Cityscapes (Video)

Mirror City is a psychedelic visual story through some of the great American cities: Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. These clips were all processed from their original form, into the kaleidoscopic visuals that you see in this video.

Man-made geometric shapes are mixed with elements of color and movement to create less of a structured video, and more of a plethora of visual stimulation. The video starts off with simple mirrors and recognizable architecture, as the video progresses, so does the visual stimulation, showing the real abstraction of the piece.

When I first started Mirror City, I wanted to create a video that was completely out of the norm. I wanted to showcase something unique and artistic, which takes Timelapse photography into a more abstract direction.

Many people visit these large cities every day, and all of these places have been shot and filmed, but I wanted to emulate these urban landscapes in a way that nobody has even seen before.

I have worked on this piece for an extremely long amount of time. I have spent time mirroring images and videos for the past five years, and I have been working on this specific piece for about four months. I felt it was time to combine Timelapse photography and the simplicity of a kaleidoscope, and create Mirror City. – Michael Shainblum

Oct 17, 2013Jun 17, 2016

ETAM Cru Psychedelic Wall Murals, Street Art Gallery

ETAM Cru is street art duo consisting of two Polish artists, Betz & Sainer. They use street art to deliver psychedelic messages to the world. Psychonauts will smile when viewing the familiar psychedelic themes on ETAM Cru’s wall murals while squares will at least raise their eyebrows.

Halle

The Journey

Polar Bear

Bon Apetit

Bastard

Moonshine

MOnkey Business

Mind Trip

Gorilla

Eskimo

Gamer

Stucked

Brekfest

Mohican

Got Talent

Connection

10 Bang

Oct 14, 2013Jun 17, 2016

Perfectly Looping and Psychedelic Trippy GIFs (Photo Gallery)

Perfectly looping gifs are animated images that seamlessly blend the beginning and end for a continuous loop. Enjoy and trip out on our selection of psychedelic looping gifs.

Sep 22, 2013Jun 17, 2016

Thomas Barbèy, Surreal Psychedelic Art Gallery

Thomas Barbèy’s unique talent to take colorless photo montages and transform them into surreal fine art is astounding.

Some of his techniques include putting negatives together and then photographing them from above, along with traditional retouching and photoshopping. The result is a powerful collection of imaginative works that tantalize the eye.

Thomas Barbèy – Surreal Psychedelic Art Gallery

> Astounding Surrealism | Web Designer Depot

Aug 20, 2013Jun 17, 2016

James Jean, Psychedelic Art Gallery

James Jean is a Taiwanese American visual artist, known for both his commercial work and fine art gallery work.

He is known in the American comics industry as a cover artist for various books published by DC Comics, as well as for his work for The New York Times, ESPN and Atlantic Records. In 2008, Jean retired from illustration and commercial projects in order to focus on painting.

Moving, Disturbing, Inspiring

– Darren Aronofsky, Director of Requiem for a Dream on James Jean’s art

“And, as with his Fables work, the paintings and illustrations are often suffused with a dreamy romanticism and lyricism worthy of Maxfield Parrish, even as Mr. Jean subverts those and other isms.”

-Dana Jennings, New York Times

James Jean: The Artist

James Jean talks about where he finds his inspiration, and lets us take a peek into his sketchbooks.

James Jean On Art and Design

James Jean tells us about his design and artistic philosophy.

James Jean and David Choe – LA Secret Studio

Coming from contrasting backgrounds in which Choe was an art school drop out and James Jean a diligent art school graduate, they plied away relentlessly in an Los Angeles warehouse.

A warehouse was chosen so that each artist would not be constrained by space and would also be able to work without any distractions. The show subsequently earned the nickname LA Secret Studio due to this.

This short documentary speaks with both Choe and Jean about their pasts and current way of approaching art.

Aug 18, 2013Jun 17, 2016

Psychedelic Fractals Formed By Bacteria Colonies, Art Gallery

Each bacterium divides every 20 minutes, ultimately forming large colonies consisting of billions of microorganisms.

“The entire colony can be thought of as a big brain, a super brain, that receives signals, processes information and then makes decisions about where to send bacteria and where to continue to expand,” says Ben-Jacob, biological physicist

In his lab, Ben-Jacob grew the bacteria in petri dishes and exposed them to different conditions—like temperature swings, for instance—in an attempt to imitate some of the variability in the natural environments where the bacteria grow. The physicist could see how the colony responded to the stress of different variables.

“The idea was very simple,” he explains.”If you want to see their capabilities, you have to expose them to some challenges.”

The bacteria, it turned out, communicated with one another in response to these stressors; they secreted lubricants, allowing them to move, and formed elaborate patterns with dots and vine-like branches.

From the first instant he saw a colony, Ben-Jacob called it bacteria art.

”Without knowing anything, you’ll feel the sense that there is drama going on,” he says.

The bacteria are naturally colorless. To make them visible, Ben-Jacob uses a stain called Coomassie blue to dye the microorganisms. The bacteria take on different shades of blue depending on each individual bacterium’s density. Then, working with photographs of the colonies in Photoshop, the scientist translates the blues into a spectrum of any color of his choosing.

The images have helped him see how bacteria cooperate to meet challenges—bacteria in one part of a colony can sense something in the local environment and send messages to bacteria in other parts of the colony. The bacteria might encounter food, for example, and manage to communicate to other members of the colony that it is present, so that it can be digested.

The patterns in Ben-Jacob’s bacteria art are eye-catching and evocative—without knowing how they formed, the brain leaps to the familiar seaweeds, corals, sphagnum moss, feathers—fractal displays that border on the psychedelic.

“The bacteria have to maintain order, but they also have to maintain flexibility, so that when conditions change they can better adapt to the environment,” says Ben-Jacob.

“We have an affinity for things that have the combination of the two, order and disorder. If you analyze classical music, it is the same thing. The things that we really like and are captivated by are things that have this mixture.”

> Colonies of Growing Bacteria Make Psychedelic Art | Smithsonian

Jul 28, 2013Jun 17, 2016

Tadanori Yokoo, Psychedelic Japanese Art Compilation (Photo Gallery, Video)

Perhaps best known for his psychedelic ’70s album covers for The Beatles and Earth, Wind, & Fire, Tadanori Yokoo is arguably the most influential Japanese graphic designer of the 20th Century.

He got his start working with avant-garde theatre and has occasionally been called Japan’s Andy Warhol. Their interest in process appears similar, using iconic imagery and vivid collages to convey complex or thought provoking ideas.

Tadanori Yokoo Genka Series

In 1975, Tadanori Yokoo produced hundreds of pen and ink drawings for Genka (“Illusory Flowers”), a historical novel by Harumi Setouchi that recounts the struggles of Tomiko Hino, the wife of shogun Yoshimasa Ashikaga (1435-1490). The illustrations, were published along with the novel in a long series of installments in the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper.

Tadanori Yokoo Music and Film Posters

Tadanori Yokoo “Tokuten Eizou Anthology No. 1” (1964) Psychedelic Animation

Jul 23, 2013Jun 17, 2016

Psychedelics Influenced the Origins of Prehistoric Cave Paintings?

A new scientific paper on the origin of cave paintings suggests that humanity’s earliest artists deliberately sought out psychedelic states to create visionary art.

Prehistoric cave paintings across the continents have similar geometric patterns not because early humans were learning to draw like Paleolithic pre-schoolers, but because they were using psychedelics, and their brains—like ours—have a biological predisposition to “see” certain patterns, especially during consciousness altering states.

At its core, this proposed theory challenges the long-held notion that the earliest art and atrists were merely trying to draw the external world. Instead, it sees cave art as a deliberate mix of rituals inducing altered states for participants, coupled with brain chemistry that elicits certain visual patterns for humanity’s early chroniclers.

The cave painters had rituals that involved taking drugs (undoubtedly plants) that they consumed in a frenzy to get to this creative state. This behavior and the same results were noted by 1960s-era academics studying the effects of peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus found in North America.

The non-ordinary visual experiences were often characterized by similar kinds of abstract geometric patterns, which he classified into four categories of form constants:

(1) gratings, lattices, fretworks, filigrees, honeycombs, and checkerboards

(2) cobwebs

(3) tunnels and funnels, alleys, cones,and vessels

(4) spirals

“Intriguingly, these form constants turned out to resemble many of the abstract motifs that are often associated with prehistoric art from around the world, including Paleolithic cave art in Europe.”

A BBC Documentary How Art Made the World suggested that art was originally an exclusive domain of spiritualists – these images were what the “Shaman” saw in trance. Terence Mckenna’s Stoned Ape Theory goes even deeper by suggesting that the ingestion of shrooms by early primates was the starting point of human evolution.

But why would people across continents and cultures be drawn to record the same shapes?

The paper states the images generated by specific neural centers do resemble the templates for lots of 1960s psychedelic artists.

Why did they early humans gravitate to these patterns? Because the imagery was seen or sensed while having a super-sensory experience and therefore seemed to be imbued with cosmic significance. Put another way, people who explore their consciousness with psychedelics tend to find magic in simple details.

> Were Paleolithic Cave Painters High on Psychedelic Drugs? Scientists Propose Ingenious Theory for Why They Might Have Been | AlterNet

Jun 20, 2013Jun 17, 2016

LSD Art Experiment, Acid Sketches (Photo Gallery)

What happens when you go down the rabbit hole with art supplies?

Here is an LSD art experiment that visually depicts the abstract states this artist experienced while tripping on acid.

These 9 drawings were done by an artist under the influence of LSD — part of a test conducted by the US government during it’s dalliance with psychotomimetic drugs in the late 1950’s.

The artist was given a dose of LSD 25 and free access to an activity box full of crayons and pencils. His subject is the medico that jabbed him.

First drawing is done 20 minutes after the first dose (50ug)

An attending doctor observes – Patient chooses to start drawing with charcoal.

The subject of the experiment reports – ‘Condition normal… no effect from the drug yet’.

85 minutes after first dose and 20 minutes after a second dose has been administered (50ug + 50ug)

The patient seems euphoric.

‘I can see you clearly, so clearly. This… you… it’s all … I’m having a little trouble controlling this pencil. It seems to want to keep going.’

2 hours 30 minutes after first dose.

Patient appears very focused on the business of drawing.

‘Outlines seem normal, but very vivid – everything is changing color. My hand must follow the bold sweep of the lines. I feel as if my consciousness is situated in the part of my body that’s now active – my hand, my elbow… my tongue’.

2 hours 32 minutes after first dose.

Patient seems gripped by his pad of paper.

‘I’m trying another drawing. The outlines of the model are normal, but now those of my drawing are not. The outline of my hand is going weird too. It’s not a very good drawing is it? I give up – I’ll try again…’

2 hours 35 minutes after first dose.

Patient follows quickly with another drawing.

‘I’ll do a drawing in one flourish… without stopping… one line, no break!’

Upon completing the drawing the patient starts laughing, then becomes startled by something on the floor.

2 hours 45 minutes after first dose.

Patient tries to climb into activity box, and is generally agitated – responds slowly to the suggestion he might like to draw some more. He has become largely none verbal.

‘I am… everything is… changed… they’re calling… your face… interwoven… who is…’ Patient mumbles inaudibly to a tune (sounds like ‘Thanks for the memory). He changes medium to Tempera.

4 hours 25 minutes after first dose.

Patient retreated to the bunk, spending approximately 2 hours lying, waving his hands in the air. His return to the activity box is sudden and deliberate, changing media to pen and water color.

‘This will be the best drawing, Like the first one, only better. If I’m not careful I’ll lose control of my movements, but I won’t, because I know. I know’ – (this saying is then repeated many times).

Patient makes the last half-a-dozen strokes of the drawing while running back and forth across the room.

5 hours 45 minutes after first dose.

Patient continues to move about the room, intersecting the space in complex variations. It’s an hour and a half before he settles down to draw again – he appears over the effects of the drug.

‘I can feel my knees again, I think it’s starting to wear off. This is a pretty good drawing – this pencil is mighty hard to hold’ – (he is holding a crayon).

8 hours after first dose.

Patient sits on bunk bed. He reports the intoxication has worn off except for the occasional distorting of our faces. We ask for a final drawing which he performs with little enthusiasm.

‘I have nothing to say about this last drawing, it is bad and uninteresting, I want to go home now.’

Jun 19, 2013Jun 17, 2016

Salvador Dali Psychedelic Art Compilation (Photo Gallery, Video)

Salvador Dali, less commonly known by his full name: Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domenech, 1st Marques de Dalí de Pubol, was one of the most prolific surrealist painters of all-time.

Highly imaginative, Dali joined his love of luxury with his eccentric manner of comport to create his truly unique art. Dali’s expansive artistic pursuits include film, sculpture, photography, architecture, and writing, all in addition to his painting.

“A true painter is one who can paint extraordinary scenes in the middle of an empty desert. A true painter is one who can patiently paint a pear in the midst of the tumults of history.” -Salvador Dalí

Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening

Les Elephants

The Persistence of Memory

Crucifixion

The Invisible Man

Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man

The Face of War

Apparition of Face and Fruit- dish on a Beach

Still Life Moving Fast

Metamorphosis of Narcissus

The Architectonic Angelus of Millet

Port of Cadaques at Night

Catalunya’s town of Figueres is home to the trailblazing artist Salvador Dalí and the museum that displays his life’s work. The nearby fishing village Cadaqués features another museum of sorts: Dalí’s home, where even the furniture is a work of provocative and playful surrealist art.

Jun 16, 2013Jun 17, 2016

Fear and Loathing Illustrator, Ralph Steadman Psychedelic Art Gallery

Ralph Steadman is a cartoonist best known for his work with author Hunter S. Thompson, drawing pictures for several of his articles and books. Steadman is respected for the messages in his political and social cartoons.

Awards that he has won for his work include the Francis Williams Book Illustration Award for Alice in Wonderland and Illustrator of the Year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 1979.

Hunter S Thompson, Words – Ralph Steadman

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Ralph Steadman

Alice in Wonderland – Ralph Steadman

Alice in Wonderland, Hookah – Ralph Steadman

Optimus Hunter – Ralph Steadman

Little Boxes – Ralph Steadman

Earth Belly – Ralph Steadman

Pill Culture – Ralph Steadman

Trippin in Las Vegas – Ralph Steadman

Hunter S Thompson – Ralph Steadman

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Ride – Ralph Steadman

Disneyland – Ralph Steadman

Love- Ralph Steadman

Animal Farm – Ralph Steadman

The Ink That Sheds Blood – Ralph Steadman

Apr 25, 2013Jun 17, 2016

Psychedelic Spirit Paintings, Alex Grey Art Gallery

Alex Grey’s paintings can be described as a blend of sacred, visionary art and psychedelic art.

He is best known for his paintings of glowing anatomical human bodies, images that “x-ray” the multiple layers of reality. His art is a complex integration of body, mind, and spirit.