The Alchemist's Bench: drug pros and cons

[Goblin-King]

Nope, I wasn't high or drunk or anything, neither when I came up with the motives nor painted them (Not even for the giant BRAIN).
I was simply pondering if getting high with the specific purpose in mind to come up with ideas would result in some surprising new concepts.

Knightkrawler, actually some of your interpretations are pretty spot on.
I'm not telling which parts though. I'm of the opinion that once a picture is finished, the artist looses all rights to to it's interpretation. Your interpretation is truly as right as mine.
If our views are way too different I didn't do a good enough job of conveying my ideas and the picture gets a new meaning that is different from my intent.
I rarely explain my pictures because figuring it out for yourself is half the experience.

[knightkrawler]

I'm of the opinion that once a picture is finished, the artist looses all rights to to it's interpretation. Your interpretation is truly as right as mine.
If our views are way too different I didn't do a good enough job of conveying my ideas and the picture gets a new meaning that is different from my intent.
I rarely explain my pictures because figuring it out for yourself is half the experience.

In literary studies and by extension all art interpretation there are several types of approaches legitimating or avoiding the artist as "part" of his piece of art. So if you say you lose the patent for you being right interpreting your own art, that's giving away the biographic interpretation among others.
For some artist, Franz Kafka being one of the prime example in literature, that means losing most aspects of interpretation. There's simply too much biography and personality in his literature to avoid pulling him as a person behind his art into the interpretation. There are other artists who are way more methodical where you can or cannot consider the artist in their art. Katy Perry.

That is part of my own literary and arts interpretation theory. Some artists want to be considered as part of their art, some don't. Where Jonathan Davis of Korn wants to be heard through musical expression and his lyrics and Bret Easton Ellis writes down his experiences and drug induced fever dreams, Lionel Richie just writes what he thinks will become a chart hit and Peter Jackson does what he does. Less crass, there are artists making art for the art's sake. King Crimson, some expressionist lyricists, Darron Aronofsky...

I would consider you, Goblin-King, as being of the third kind, which is of course not an interpretation in its own right and in no way meant to limit the view on artist and his art in any way.

[Goblin-King]

Of course there is not only one true method to interpret. It's simply my personal preference, to view a piece in it's own right on it's own merits.

In literary studies and by extension all art interpretation there are several types of approaches legitimating or avoiding the artist as "part" of his piece of art. So if you say you lose the patent for you being right interpreting your own art, that's giving away the biographic interpretation among others.

I'm not exactly saying I (or any artist) cannot be part of the piece. Any viewer of a piece can legitimately include any known knowledge of the artist (or anything else for that matter) in their interpretation.
But if it's required to know the artist has terminal cancer or is an animal's rights activist for the piece to make any sense, then I find the piece to be too weak.
The piece should preferably be able to stand on it's own legs. But there can be layers of interpretation. A war scene may tell about the horrors of war, or the feeling of loosing a soldier buddy. Everyone should be able to get that. But knowing the artist is from X country and experienced Y war, may add another layer of meaning to the piece as a whole or specific details.

On that note, in general I also dislike "artificial symbolism" that can't be appreciated by all/most. Yellow being a prime example. Yellow is the color of betrayal or falsehood. What? Why?
You got to have a very specific cultural knowledge to ever get that.

Less crass, there are artists making art for the art's sake. King Crimson, some expressionist lyricists, Darron Aronofsky...

I would consider you, Goblin-King, as being of the third kind, which is of course not an interpretation in its own right and in no way meant to limit the view on artist and his art in any way.

You made me ask myself: Why do I make art?
Actually a hard question to answer, which I'm still pondering...

(are we still in the drug thread? Did we derail yet another thread? )

[Sjeng]

Because you enjoy it? Do you need another reason?

[knightkrawler]

But if it's required to know the artist has terminal cancer or is an animal's rights activist for the piece to make any sense, then I find the piece to be too weak.
The piece should preferably be able to stand on it's own legs. But there can be layers of interpretation. A war scene may tell about the horrors of war, or the feeling of loosing a soldier buddy. Everyone should be able to get that. But knowing the artist is from X country and experienced Y war, may add another layer of meaning to the piece as a whole or specific details.

On that note, in general I also dislike "artificial symbolism" that can't be appreciated by all/most. Yellow being a prime example. Yellow is the color of betrayal or falsehood. What? Why?
You got to have a very specific cultural knowledge to ever get that.

I agree.

Less crass, there are artists making art for the art's sake. King Crimson, some expressionist lyricists, Darron Aronofsky...

I would consider you, Goblin-King, as being of the third kind, which is of course not an interpretation in its own right and in no way meant to limit the view on artist and his art in any way.

You made me ask myself: Why do I make art?
Actually a hard question to answer, which I'm still pondering...

(are we still in the drug thread? Did we derail yet another thread? )

This is actually not such a bad thread to derail.
Why do you make art (like this)? Quite obvious from where I sit, again, without me trying to limit anything. Obvious intention/background/motivation does not mean anything sub par with canonical art. You're a nerd and a bitch for Sci-Fi/Fantasy and you've worked on techniques to convey a genre as best you can. Best means love for the genre and know-how both. I think these pictures of yours are in intention homages to a genre you love with a twist of your own, referencing both themselves and their influences, opening a whole new nerd drawer for themselves and you as an artist.

[Gold Bearer]

I finally decided to read the newer posts in this thread. I'm not going to get into a debate right now because most peoples attitude to this subject really aggravates me. Mainly because it comes from a place of utter cluelessness and it's the most obvious case of mental conditioning I've ever seen, and it's complete hypocrisy when it comes from people who drink alcohol which is one of the most potent and dangerous drugs around. Just look at how much being drunk (high as a kite but not in a good way) changes people behaviour, often violently (weed has the exact opposite affect), and don't be fooled by the different names the effects are given. One of the hardest drug addictions to break (alcoholism), harsh come downs (hang overs) and most common cause of overdoses (alcohol poisoning). It's hilarious when someone who can hardly talk or even walk straight is brags about not taking drugs. Being legal doesn't make it better and it shouldn't make it more socially acceptable, just as drugs being illegal doesn't have anything to do with how dangerous they are and shouldn't be more socially unacceptable.

what is dmt?

The biggest cover up in human history, the gateway to other dimensions, what our third eyes (piniel glands that are the interface between our consciousness and our physical bodies) would be producing if they weren't calcified by fluoride and what makes us dream. We can actually produce our own through meditation. This is a really nice video. It's short but it briefly goes through other connected aspects, like sun gazing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFBpe_V3dMY We don't even need to eat if we sun gaze, not ever. The sun is the source of all life on this planet. We consume animals that consumed plants that consumed solar energy, or we get it more directly by consuming plants. Sun gazing is the most direct and effective method. I still haven't got around to doing it because my sleep pattern has been too chaotic. There's a bloke somewhere who went into hospital under observation to prove that he doesn't need any food, or even water I think but I'm not sure about that, can't quite remember. This talks about the trip itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSsG2sDL1Gg&list=PLFB7532760CB5254F (Ignore the graphics that have very little to do with it.)

As some of you may know I spend a lot of my spare time painting.
While I have no problems at all coming up with motives, I've often wondered what it would be like to get really high and just do a lot of sketches for later use.
Would I get a lot of imaginative motives? Would I get some ideas I wouldn't come up with under normal circumstances?

There's a good chance it will because it will make you think in ways you never have before, but people react differently, same as alcohol. Be careful if you've never done it before. Weed for example can take a while to hit so don't do more straight away thinking it's not working. Probably better to be around people you know and trust as well so you don't give yourself a panic attack.

[Gold Bearer]

This is the big secret the freemasons have been holding on to. The pyramid with the all seeing eye is a very important symbol in freemasonry. That's a very ancient symbol. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmMwo1Xzgus 7:40 The reason it's sometimes depicted with a reptile eye is because the pineal gland in reptiles has the most in common with conventional eyes, it literally is an eye. That's also probably why Kundalini energy is usually depicted as a serpent winding up the spine and why reptiles were so often worshipped in ancient cultures. The 33 steps of the great pyramid and 33 degrees of freemasonry represent the 33 vertebrae of the human spine. The Kundalini energy rises up from the sacrum (meaning sacred) through the seven chakras (the seven seals of the word (body) of god) until it reaches the crown chakra (the seven chakras are the seven glands in the body and tuning your chakras means getting them to produce the chemicals they should be and the ones they would be if we weren't all being poisoned) and opens the all seeing eye/third eye/inner eye/pineal gland/crown chakra/throne of god. The god in the bible and quran is our consciousness. They're esoteric writings, you just have to know how to read them. Christ represents our bodies, god made flesh. Why do you think He is written with a capital H? I! God is within you. Know ye not that ye are gods? We all create the universe we perceive with our minds. The holy trinity is our mind, body and soul. Arseholes with low self esteem love to keep knowledge in house to make themselves feel important. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIW_Ca8OWTo

[knightkrawler]

Arseholes with low self esteem love to keep knowledge in house to make themselves feel important.

Also, the one and entire reason for all political systems to even exist.

[wolfie907]

are you guys hippies?

[knightkrawler]

I'm a bourgeois anarchist.