Like a big bang, the smallest scribble in my sketchbook ignited a cascading, chaotic, brain dump as endless pages were filled with thumbnail sketches of these simple, strange, intersecting compositions. That sort of inspiration free fall is one of the best feelings on the planet, as the brain is flooded with dopamine neurotransmitter molecules. It's brain sex, and it's a worthy feeling to chase until the end of my days. Isn't that the whole point of life? To search for the things that inspire and excite you in this world? What else is there to do?
I didn't have a clue what I was drawing, or why, or where it was going. After a few hours, I sat there looking back through about 200 tiny sketches, and many of them definitely had a sexual thing goin' on. What were these weird transparent tubes, pill-forms and trippy drippy appendages doing to each other? What the hell was going on here? Did I just stumble into an X-rated, minimalist, Op Art genre? Were these my own Dopamine molecules telling me to draw themselves? Whatever was happening, I liked it. A lot. Thoughts of cells, transmitters, the exchange and transfer of energy and proteins, and all the other atomic-level, voodoo magic that happens on such an incomprehensibly grand scale inside our bodies began to put my mind into overdrive. I felt like I was high. And I was, literally, high on tiny molecules that my neurons had manufactured and distributed to other cells in my brain to make me feel excited about the fact that I was drawing and thinking about their amazing, microscopic world. Mind blown!
So this is "Sex Cells", a new print series and design study in minimalist Op Art (Optical illusion art), loosely inspired by neurotransmission and other magical, molecular, bodily functions.
View the growing collection here.