Celebrate World AiDS day 1st December

A funny LSD clip with Jack Black(this is not really all about LSD, just watch it.)

This clip is funny even though the effects maybe slightly over exaggerated, sometimes this can happen, LSD does cause you to space out and same goes with other hallucinogens, it also cause you to see, feel and be different things depending on your overall mental health. It is not impossible to not realize what your doing maybe dangerous or not, it has been know to always try or do drugs in a safe environment and with an experienced person to monitor you at all times. The hallucinations could be called 3d brainstorming.

Psychedelic Effects

This is a very trippy video, colour syncs basically admitting the effect of a kaleidoscope, it really excites the mind but it can also make one very nauseous and giddy. So be advised before viewing the movie clip.

Another Trippy LSD case study.

High Art - Affirming art’s secret history of substance abuse By DOUG HARVEY Thursday, November 3, 2005 - 12:00 am

One of the collateral victims of the U.S. government’s criminal and moronic War on Drugs has been public awareness of the degree to which American culture has been shaped by the widespread use of powerful psychoactive substances by its creative minds, particularly since the 1960s. Music, literature and film have been transformed, to greater or lesser degrees, in order to correspond to the unspoken and otherwise undocumented frontiers of consciousness whose ongoing exploration has fundamentally restructured our society’s individual and collective understandings of reality, not to mention attention spans.

For various reasons, visual art has had an even more pronounced association with pharmacologically induced altered states of consciousness. The history of modern art could easily be re-framed in terms of what poisons were being ingested by artists in each period: Cubism = Absinthism, Pop = Amphetaminism, etc. Further, many pioneering researchers in LSD and other major psychedelic drugs — Aldous Huxley, Stanislav Grof, Oscar Janiger, Masters and Houston — were particularly attentive to the responses of visual artists, who seemed to have a vocabulary more capable of describing the visionary realms into which they found themselves transported. Of course, all that went deep underground in 1966, when acid became suddenly and extremely illegal. Through the early ’70s, it was possible to openly acknowledge the influence of drugs on art, but with each subsequent decade, the need to be pharmacologically closeted grew and grew.

While gossipy cautionary tales like Jean-Michel Basquiat’s received wide play for their reinforcement of the party line, the overwhelming mass of positive drug-related artistic experiences, as well as the even deeper and broader social, psychological and spiritual issues they pointed up, have remained basically taboo. With its latest major exhibit, “Ecstasy: In and About Altered States,” MOCA has courageously confronted this taboo in a funny, celebratory manner, creating what amounts to a theme park on the topic of intoxication.

Chino Aoshima’s City Glow (2005)

As with any theme park, some attractions rock and some suck. In “Ecstasy” ’s case, I think this derives from an attempt to represent a wide swath of responses to altered states of consciousness (ASCs), ranging from Klaus Weber’s essentially political gesture of putting a trace amount of LSD in a crystal fountain to Ann Veronica Janssens’ colored-light projection Donut (2003), which uses strobing concentric rings to induce drug-analogous glitches in brainwave frequencies. Some works, like Elija-Liisa Ahtila’s rather dry 2002 triple-screen projection, Talo/The House, explore the more frightening ASCs that border on pathological dissociative realms, while the show’s ostensible pièce de résistance — Carsten Höller’s Upside-Down Mushroom Room (2000) — has the boneheaded literalism of stoner art made by a smart-ass high school kid who’s never actually been experienced. “Oh, wow, giant spinning upside-down amanitas! I must be high!”

A number of works share this unfortunate confusion of menu for meal — Roxy Paine and Takashi Murakami also seem to have been included solely on the basis of their verbatim ’shroom imagery, while Fred Tomaselli’s intricately composed resin-soaked collages of actual pot leaves, blotter hits, Valiums, etc. (now fleshed out with body-part magazine clippings), have lost their slight conceptual edge through more than a decade of repetition, though they’re still pretty pretty. Tom Friedman’s Play-Doh pharmacopoeia treads dangerously close to the same redundancy vibe, but is pulled clear by the inclusion of several other works that hint at the restless inventiveness of his oeuvre — though I’m not sure what a Styrofoam sculpture of a plane hitting the WTC has to do with altered perceptions. Yes, I do. I just don’t know what it has to do with drugs.

As the show’s title suggests, not all the works reference drug-induced ASCs — Matt Mullican shares a couple of videos documenting his long-running experimentation with hypnosis as a tool in painting and performance. Many of the works — Glenn Brown’s sumptuous seething oil portraits or Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s miniaturized movie-theater installation, for example — re-create perceptual divergences that most teetotalers know from fever dreams or grace. The most successful works in the show are, in fact, those that mimic the phenomenology of ASCs rather than displaying some not-so-secret symbol with a knowing wink.

Foremost among these are installations by Pierre Huyghe and Erwin Redl. Huyghe’s piece — centered in a darkened room on the upper mezzanine — consists of a miniature stage set equipped with elaborate computer-choreographed theatrical lighting in a range of reds and purples, which sweep across tiny clouds of smoke-machine fog to the strains of Debussy’s lush, sentimental orchestrations of Eric Satie’s Gnossiennes. Sitting on the provided floor cushions, the viewer is strangely transported by what could easily pass for an elaborate pitch to subcontract a Vegas figure-skating revue, yet the work achieves a transcendent level of cheesiness — breaking on through to the other side of kitsch.

Redl’s MATRIX II (2000/2005) installation is more clinical, but no less sublime. An entire blacked-out back corner of the cavernous Geffen Contemporary is given over to a three-dimensional grid of glowing green LEDs, immersing viewers in a Euclidian field that shifts and reconfigures into different patterns as they move around it, conjuring both a hyperawareness of human spatial perceptual hard-wiring and an intimation of the underlying geometric realities experienced by devotees of peyote and mescaline. A word of caution: Try to visit this show during off-hours, as many of the works — particularly these immersive contemplative environments — are completely sabotaged by crowding. I haven’t heard a single favorable report of the supercongested opening.

Ann Veronica Janssen's Donut (2003)

As with many MOCA survey shows, there are an unusually high number of frustrating curatorial exclusions. Apart from the many obvious mainstream art-world figures, it would have been exciting to see some psychedelic art produced in the course of psychiatric research — there have been studies done since the show’s 1990 cutoff date. Many of the inclusions are equally puzzling. Franz Ackermann’s painting installation is swell (but somebody please give that dude a color wheel!) but says nothing about the topic of ASCs. At least, Paul Noble’s epic, lyrical graphite drawings scream “Pothead!”

One of the big conceptual problems with a show like “Ecstasy” is that it can document the impact of ASCs – drug-induced or otherwise — only up to the point that they continue to validate the museological presentation of precious material objects that fall into a special category we agree to call art. And while the amount of excellent work on view here makes “Ecstasy” a definite must-see, and MOCA is to be commended for its brave affirmation of the politically unsanctioned potentials of human consciousness, for most of the people I know who have actually seen “a world in a grain of sand,” the idea that experiences of visionary ecstasy can be mediated by any authority or institution is a joke. But hey — it’s good for a laugh.


ECSTASY: In and About Altered States | The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., Little Tokyo | Through February 20, 2006

Trick Or Treat????

Happy Halloween

A little News

Artist rises and falls on cocaine

AN internationally acclaimed Brisbane artist yesterday paid a high price for getting too close to his subject matter.

Painter and stained-glass expert Mitchell Lee Foley – whose recent works includes a series entitled Cocaine, Cocaine 035 and Cocaine on a Rainy Day – yesterday pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to nine counts of importing trafficable amounts of cocaine into Australia.

Justice Mackenzie sentenced the 50-year-old father of three to 10 years' jail with a non-parole period of 3½ years. The Courier-Mail reports.

Love conquers all, even drug addiction

Sunday April 24, 2005
Love conquers all, even drug addiction


KUALA LUMPUR: Love is one of the best weapons against drug addiction, said the co-authors of a book that underscores this view.

Malaysian Hamzah Sidang Mohamed and Indonesian Evodia A. Iswandi jointly wrote I Love You Darling.

The book is based on real stories provided by listeners of an Indonesian radio programme who are either former drug addicts or their parents, relatives and friends.

”Drug addiction is global in nature, be it in the United States, Indonesia or here, so there is no difference in looking for solutions, whether at the prevention or rehabilitation stage, “ said Evodia.

The premise of the book, she said, was that former addicts would revert to their old habits without genuine love and care.

“It is based on the belief that with love and affection, people can be protected from being sucked into addiction,” she said.


It was hoped that the feelings, perceptions and experiences portrayed in the book would allow readers to understand the power of love, added Evodia, who is with the Bersama drug abuse rehabilitation programme in Indonesia.

The book was launched by Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Zainal Abidin Zin, who is also Pemadam chairman, at the Putra World Trade Centre yesterday.

It is now available from Pemadam.

According to Hamzah, an official with the agency, Pemadam is looking for sponsorship to supply the book to schools or libraries.

Canada's tobacco warnings now considered modern art

Reuters and ABC News Online report that gruesome Canadian images of tobacco-damaged gums, lungs and hearts will form part of an exhibit at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Canada's health ministry said on Friday.

The graphic images appear as health warnings on Canadian cigarette packs, and they will now be part of a MoMA exhibition on objects designed to protect the mind and body from dangerous or stressful influences.

"I am very proud that these labels have been recognized as being among some of the most innovative contemporary designs in the world," Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said in a statement.

Art, Dope & Saving the World: with artist Kris Hoglund

In my personal opinion, i would have to says this is by far one of the most creative, expressive biography i have ever read on an artist.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

In 1993 I was Vincent Van Gogh. In 1995, I was Kurt Cobain. In 1997, I was Keith Haring. I studied these people. Everything I could find on them, by them, I owned. I looked at their work for clues, wisdom, an answer. Through their work I felt their pain, their dreams, their joys, and their despair. I studied them not just because I wanted to be "like" them, or even "be" them. I studied them because I was them.

Through their art I experienced their life, through my eyes. I felt the joy of discovery, the rush of productivity and creativity, the search for meaning, the anguish of never finding. I understood the addictions, the self-destructiveness, the whole messy business. And I loved them all the more because I understood it. I felt it. I was it.

There was just one problem with me being them. They all destroyed themselves. Would I have to do the same?

When I discovered that I was Van Gogh in 1993 and started painting, I found a door in myself that had been closed since childhood. When I discovered that I was Kurt Cobain, the silent anger and rage of a shitty childhood started kicking it down. When I became Keith Haring, I found my voice, manic and unstoppable as it poured out my story.

Now wait a minute you might say, where was "I" during all of this? I mean, it was "MY" story that was being told, not theirs. Well, I suppose "I" was there too. Leaning on the great ones, feeling their feelings, until I could learn to feel my own. That's kind of what artists contribute to humanity, eh? They feel and record their feelings, leaving the non-artists and the emerging artists a trail of emotional breadcrumbs to follow on their way to self-awareness, to enlightenment. I don't think there is a more noble purpose (it's too bad it generally doesn't pay well).

Ok, but if these guys are so great, why did they all self-destruct in their prime? A valid question, and one of particular importance to me, since I "was" them. I was very afraid to ask that question of myself because it would have interfered with my ability to continue doing the answer. Although I had gained a lot of self/emotional awareness, and I found I could express my feelings in a powerful way, it was still very unpleasant to FEEL them. If I could dull them, then I didn't have to deal with them. For me, marijuana did the job better than anything else. Though I have engaged in all manner of compulsive activity, from work, to computer games, to pornography, the consistent fall back when the other things weren't working was pot. The first time I got high in the 7th grade, I forgot myself. I'd been chasing that feeling ever since.

After years of hiding my use, I decided in 2001 that I was going to be out in the open with it. There's a long story here, and out of respect to my wife and my family, who put up with a lot of shit from me, I won't go into all of it. Suffice it to say I had myself convinced that smoking pot from morning till night was making me a better person. I felt it was key to my artistic creativity, my spirituality, and my peace of mind. I believed these things, almost wholeheartedly.

It was the peace of mind thing that eventually tripped me up. Like a lot of artists, I have a tendency to swing pretty widely through my mood cycles, with both intense lows and highs. In times of emotional stress, be it a high or a low, the pot would always intensify it, a lot. Prozac took away the problems with the lows, but the highs would be crazy. Unable to sleep much, always in a dream state, I would push my sanity to the edge.

Although at the time I felt like these frenzied states of mind were gold mines of creative ore, mostly they just kept me in a state of constant crisis, with my work, my family and my self. The art I was doing toward the end, while indeed visionary in its way, was pretty much only appreciable by me, and by a hand full of the addicted or near insane.

The events of 9/11 were really sort of the catalyst for me to clean up my act. It triggered a kind of posttraumatic state for me where, in my druggy-haze, I knew I had the plan that would save the world. Not only that, but also that I had an obligation to share it with others. I was way over-the-top on this and I knew that I was in a fantasyland, yet, I still believed it. It created an obvious contradiction for me. I knew then that I had to get straight or I would go insane, or worse, lose my family. And still, this was a difficult decision for me, as it is for all addicts. I had a whole list of reasons why not to get sober, top of the list being that I didn't see how I was going to function as an artist.

I have been clean and sober for about a year and a half as of this writing (4/03). This last year has been like starting over in a lot of ways, and starting to feel things without medicating has been every bit as unpleasant as I ever might have thought it would be. The bill was due, so to speak, for years worth of things I had neglected and which needed to be made right. I have to say though, that my life IS better in every way and that, although I am far from the model of mental health and happiness, I feel like I'm moving in a good direction.

It is not my intention to sound preachy about substances. Everyone needs to find their own path, and I know that there are more people out there than not who can use drugs and alcohol in a responsible manner. It just stopped working for me. I don't have regrets about this. I learned things from it that I needed to learn, and likely wouldn't have learned any other way. I am grateful that I'm still alive and sane enough to say that, because, I do believe that one way or another, sooner or later, you either stop, go insane or die from it.

I am also happy to report that my creativity was NOT in fact dependent on pot, which is very satisfying to me. I have done some really good work in the last year, on themes and ideas that never would have occurred to me wasted, and, in having to deal with my emotions sober, opened up all kinds of artistic vistas hereto unexplored by me.

Speaking of trying to save the world, in the fall of 2002, I was John Lennon. On a whim I had picked up his "Plastic Ono Band" album, and felt his feelings through my eyes. This was painful music and I was devastated. I was he. But I started listening to his later work, "Double Fantasy" and "Milk and Honey", and much to my great surprise, I had finally found somebody "to be" who was happy. Here was someone who was learning to live with his wounds and still find what there was to enjoy in life, someone who was no longer trying to save the world and someone who was no longer killing himself in the process. I felt very comforted in seeing "me" find a way to be happy. It's very sad that he didn't get a chance to enjoy it for very long. I guess it's just the way life is.

In the end, an artist can only take you so far along in the journey and the rest you have to learn for yourself. In spite of my grandiose plans to save the world (it was a good plan actually), as an artist, my highest function in society is probably to be a sower of breadcrumbs. Maybe someday I'll help someone find their way toward saving themselves, someone who looks at my art and says "he is me". That would make me feel like I've accomplished something as an artist. After all, even John Lennon didn't save the world.

Peace,
Kris Hoglund
April 2003
For more about Kris Hoglund Please Visit WeepingCherry.Com
What is Surreal Pop Art by Kris Hoglund
re: the Ant/Not Terminal Gallery

The Abstract Art of Arnulf Rainer

Arnulf Rainer an Austrian artist of the post-war period, his work is abstract and very defined seems as if he smears charcoal over his canvases. His art feels very rough and rushed but still managing to create intricate details in some of his artworks. His art work relates to our now contemporary art of today. A couple of semesters ago i was on a photography assignment based on an abstract artist from Kuala Lumpur, he shared his insights of art to me and my friends, he mentioned that our own art styles can be influenced easily by our surroundings/environment. The artist i was photographing was a very opinionated, some of what he mentioned to me made me understand more of art and the outlooks of it may it be visionary or prethought. "Design is not all about how much it costs or how it looks but the knowledge behind it is the key". - Anonymous.




*Images retrieved from http://www.moma.org/collection/

Interview with Lauren Montgomery.

In my research i came across this interview with Lauren Montgomery a student who stayed clear of drugs although drugs have surrounded her throughout her life, she managed to stay clean and focus on her greatest passion, photography.

How did you become interested in photography?
I took a photography class my sophomore year in high school – after that, I was hooked. I took all the classes available my senior year and became really inspired by one of my teachers.

My goal in high school was to complete my portfolio – but as I’ve grown as an artist, my focus has changed. Now I want to express how I feel in a photograph and simply capture a moment of time.

Some of your art depicts struggles with drug abuse. Why did you choose to focus on this topic?
I was surrounded with people who had issues with drugs. My uncle struggled with drug problems, my aunt was addicted to Vicodin – even my ex-boyfriend developed an addiction after we started dating. I saw what drugs did to people close to me, and I was lucky enough to learn from their mistakes and to never want to use myself.

But don’t get me wrong, I was a regular, curious teen. I tried a few things here and there, but wasn’t very interested in any of it. I would go to parties sober and just watch everyone – a lot of them were out of control. By my senior year it became hard for me to cope, having friends hurting themselves with drugs. I started to separate myself from that group of people. I realized that drugs break people – they can become lost.

I started to use my art to demonstrate what I’ve seen, and how I think drugs can affect people’s lives. I want to help people.

My Uncle (Lauren Montgomery)		Self-Portrait in Mirror (Lauren Montgomery)

Chelsey (Lauren Montgomery)

Some artists believe that drugs can help inspire them to do great work. How do you feel about this?
I believe that it’s so important to live our lives in reality. On drugs, you’re not you – you become the drug. Your art becomes the drug and I don’t want this. I want to show people that you can be creative and produce beauty on your own, without the influence of substances.

What would you say is the ultimate goal for your art?
If my photographs inspired people in some way, I feel like I’ve done my job. I’m not sure if I have a huge, specific goal. I mean, if one of my photos was featured in some art magazine or somewhere where a lot of people could see it – that would be a pretty substantial moment for my career.

I want my art to be about my own experiences as well as others’. I’ve lived my own life, and seen so much – I have a lot to show to the world.

"The Last Judgement".

Last Judgement. Central panel of the triptych. 1500s. Oil on panel. Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna, Austria.

"Paradise"

Paradise. left wing of the Last Judgement triptych. 1500s. Oil on panel. Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna, Austria

"The Garden of Earthly Delights - Hell".

Hieronymus Bosch a very influential artist of his time, one must look closely to understand what he potrays in his paintings which seem very morale valued and spiritually lead.


















Hell. Right wing of the Last Judgement triptych. 1500s. Oil on panel. Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna, Austria.

"Visionary Art"

A look into visionary art of artist with a higher insight to art and the meanings of each artwork created. The term Visionary Art could be said to define artworks that are directly inspired by non-ordinary states of visual consciousness, or that depict a world of such expanded or intensified imagination that the only comparison that can be made is to such states of consciousness. The earliest Visionary Art may have been imprinted onto the rock surface of cave walls. In the 15th century, Hieronymus Bosch painted fabulous and terrifying otherworlds; his Garden of Earthly Delights is unquestionably Visionary Art.Visionary Artworks intimately relate to altered states of consciousness brought about by mind-expanding materials or spiritually-enhancing life experiences. This seems inevitable considering that the visionary trance state draws its energies from the deepest recesses of the subconscious mind.

"One makes oneself a visionary by a long, immense, and reasoned disordering of the senses."

— Rimbaud

LSD, case study

Nine drawings

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 focus on the business of drawing.

'Outlines seem normal, but very vivid - everything is changing colour. 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 colour.

'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 occational 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.'

Focus and direction.

Hi, this would be my first ever blog. If anyone so happens to visit my blog please do feel free to leave any opinions or comments. The main purpose of this blog is to question design and its functionality today. I will be touching on "The effects of drugs and its influences on the creativity of artist/designers of today and of the past". I feel very intrigued by this question due to the content of artwork designers have produced making something to simple to complex and vise verse, the bright colours and how they manipulate every element in the construction of their artwork. Sounds pretty interesting but I have yet to touch much of the content. I will be conducting field studies based on my hypothesis such as videography(video documentary) and hopefully a couple of interviews with some of our local Malaysian artist. Though drugs do stimulate the creative side of the part i do not support the usage of drugs beyond the comfort of your own house doors, the mind is a fragile thing and not everyone can withstand the effects some drugs have on the human mind.