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Return To Shopthe psychonaut. the psychonaut.
Title: the psychonaut.
Price: SOLD
Date Completed: December 2019
Medium: Acrylic paint on stretched Canvas
Size: 20 x 20 in
AMERYUN art presents
the psychonaut. story
Art is whatever you see it as, but where does art end?
Is it only the paintings and music that we socially accept as art or does it go further than that?
Art is experience. Our lives are a series of experiences that build from each other to brings us to where we are today.
The psychonaut sees we are the experience and the viewer.
Part I:
The Introduction
the psychonaut. was painted in the fall of 2019, but the inspiration came in the summer of June 2019. When I met my new friend, Jeff.
We were at Electric Forest (EF), a 4 day music festival that takes place in Rothbury, Michigan. EF provides an environment to let you be yourself, it was at this festival that I began to love myself again. Before then, I was living my life to meet the expectations and seek approval of others. Find a successful career as an engineer, have a nice car, live in a nice house, and always be available for everyone, but myself.
I did not meet Jeff until the second night of the festival. The headliner, Kygo, finished playing their set for the night, but the party not over. We headed where the RV’s park for after hour dance parties.
We talked and immediately felt an unspoken connection. We were total strangers to each other, but found we could be ourselves, a quality I haven’t found in many others. We didn’t ask each other what were our careers or where we lived. We saw each other as humans that raged in the moment and danced the night away.
Part II:
The Connection
The Psychonaut was painted in the fall of 2019, but the inspiration came in the summer of June 2019. When I met my new friend, Jeff.
We were at Electric Forest (EF), a 4 day music festival that takes place in Rothbury, Michigan. EF provides an environment to let you be yourself, it was at this festival that I began to love myself again. Before then, I was living my life to meet the expectations and seek approval of others. Find a successful career as an engineer, have a nice car, live in a nice house, and always be available for everyone, but myself.
I did not meet Jeff until the second night of the festival. The headliner, Kygo, finished playing their set for the night, but the party not over. We headed where the RV’s park for after hour dance parties.
We talked and immediately felt an unspoken connection. We were total strangers to each other, but found we could be ourselves, a quality I haven’t found in many others. We didn’t ask each other what were our careers or where we lived. We saw each other as humans present in the moment, and danced the night away.
Part III:
The Inspiration
Fast forward to Fall 2019, I travelled to Detroit on a weekly basis to work as a Management Consultant for Accenture. After work, I did not have the friends to hang out with like I did back home. This gave me a platform to do what I loved.
As I have learned with any painting, you never know what the finished product will look like when you start. I think that has stopped me a lot of times in life from starting on new relationships, new hobbies, and new adventures. I didn’t take the time to see the steps in between. So thought it was always impossible. But then I thought back to my previous paintings. I never knew what the finished product looks like when I start, and that never stopped me. I started and along the way, the painting revealed itself to me more and more. That’s when it hit me. With everything in life you have to take each step one at a time. As you move through each step, the following will reveal itself to you. So with that logic, I headed to the paint shop to get my materials. As I was shopping around, inspiration struck.
“I want to paint something for a person that made me feel valued.
I want to paint something for Jeff.
I want to paint a portrait.
A portrait how Jeff sees the world.
Maybe it’s also how the world sees Jeff.
How can I communicate that in a few words?
The man adventures through the world, mind, and soul.
Space Cadet? Nah doesn’t have the right weight to it.
Oh that’s it. Jeff, the psychonaut.”
Part IV:
The Process
With that in mind, paintings take me a while to finish. Painting is a reflection of life, and in order to create a beautiful and full reflection, I need to live a beautiful and full life. To put it poetically:
To be creative,
you got to get out there.
See the glimmering stars.
Feel the air brush across your face.
Risk it all.
Ask your crush to dance
Walk through the streets of New York as the sun rises
When you come back,
you’ll want to tell the whole world
of the things you
saw, felt, tasted, smelled, and heard.
But how do you describe that
what makes you feel?
Well…..
Time to get creative.
Part V: The Presentation
GRiZMAS in Detroit December, 2019.
The 12 Days of GRiZMAS is an annual charity program focused on raising funds for increasing access to music education for Detroit’s youth. All of which is hosted by the musical artist GRiZ.
Jeff came to Detroit for 12 Days of GRiZMAS. We hadn’t seen each other in a couple months at that point. Before we headed to the GRiZ concert that closed out The 12 days of Grizmas, I met up with Jeff.
He had no idea what to expect at this point. I could write about how he felt, but I think the picture captures the essence of the experience.
Jeff and I haven’t seen each other for a while, but, as the French say “C’est la vie” (that’s life). Nothing is forever. We come and we go. Each of us to live out our lives to the beat of our own drums.
