*Blepharopsis

It's just an idea, but this is completely serious - and I'm really counting on your imput.

Here it is: I'm considering publishing an album with reference material for various artists and others who appreciate weird forms, textures and shapes, if only on an abstract level. In part it would be a photographic anatomy atlas of arthropods, featuring closeups of body parts from multiple angles. There would be also plenty of "action shots", showing natural behavior of the animals.

The pictures would be given some commentary - just a few facts about the animal in question. I think it would help to develop some connection with them (not to mention the educational values).

I would include a DVD (maybe only in a hardback edition ) with turnarounds and full-resolution closeups and textures for 3D graphics and such. If I manage to lay my hands on a good camcorder, it would also feature short movies showing the bugs in motion.

Tell me what you think of the idea - is the target group large enough to make the publication worthwhile? Would it be useful at all?

I'll be submitting some samples here from time to time, and I'm looking forward to your critique.

Next step would be finding the publisher - I have no idea how to approach this problem. If you have any experience in that (and think that the venture would make sense), please share with me!

I'll be grateful for any advices.

Have a nice day.

I've returned from Irian Jaya to fall into addiction of image processing; they should warn that using Rawshooter or Photoshop is habit forming... I'm not doing much else since last Thursday

I'll try to share with you the intense, to say the least, experience of trekking through Jayawijaya mountains, I hope my photos will manage to convey at least little fraction of it. I'll be showing: cloud jungle and tree fern forests of Jayawijaya, ex-cannibals, and some bugs, but you would expect the latter probably. Let me tell you something: taking a photo of the jungle that would show it's atmosphere or aiming the lens at a dude that can point the most delicious parts of your body posed totally new challenges for me, and I've learned a lot (thanks to the immediate feedback offered only by digital technology, of course). Only with bugs I new what I was standing on.

I have no idea where to start. I'm processing the photos at random, so there will be no chronological order in my submissions. I hope it simply won't matter. I have set the limit of 4 submissions per day, It's a lot, hope you won't mind.

Stay tuned for Irian Jaya report!

Come one, come all!

Who would have seriously thought it may come to that... I'm having my photos hanging in a gallery! You can see them (if by some freakish cosmic accident you find yourself in the area...) till the end of September in Naturmuseum Augsburg (Augusta Arcaden, 86152 Augsburg, opening hours: Tue-Sun: 10-17:00). The exhibition features ca. 70 of my prints, large format. The entrance is FREE!



What else... I don't know if I mentioned this; I recently put my scientific career on hold and am going to try some freelancing as a nature/travel photographer for a change. I still have tons of doubts - the next few months will show if I have what it takes, and if I can pull enough money for a living out of it. The exhibition is a good start and a way to get some publicity. The next thing on my "to do" list is an expedition to Irian Jaya (West Papua), scheduled already for August-September. Now this is going to be putting my balls to a test...

Wish me luck.

Or talk me out of it.

Or still better, sponsor me!

Me and my brother's girlfriend want to thank everyone that contributed their opinions on the subject of "the influence of consciousness altering substance on creativity and visual arts". I knew I could count on you deviants!

I'm sorry I didn't get back to some of you, it lies heavily on my consciousness. Please don't feel ignored; I will try to explain in my next journal entry why it was hard for me to find some time and head space for that.

The thesis are to be submitted next week. So far not a single person in the Krakow's Academy of Arts agreed to review the manuscript, and some "professors" almost panicked when they found out what it is about.

Thank you once again!

I have a request of immense importance for you.

My brother’s girlfriend studies Arts and is about to write her Bachelor degree theses. The topic she has chosen is a very ambitious one: The influence of psychoactive substances on creativeness – from prehistory to present day. One of the ideas is to bind particular substance with the effect – for example repetitive visual motives, fractals of organic/electronic quality, traces, looped imagery, consciousness expansion in general, extra-dimensionality, synaesthesia, flowing/melting/waving, colour enhancement and other modifications of perception – and then find the characteristic elements and common factors in the work of artists known to use the substances.

This is going to be put in the context of “normal” and abnormal brain chemistry, biology of neurotransmitters, pineal function etc; examples of the influence of trance, meditation, frontal lobe epilepsy, migraine and certain brain syndromes on perception and creative process will be given.

On top of that, she’s going to show structural comparison of the psychedelics with neurohormones and present available data on the distribution of those substances in the brain and their relative affinity to 5-HT class receptors. These data are meaningless and explain nothing on the level of consciousness, but they should impress 10 kinds of shit out of her professors.

The problem is, actual confirmed data linking contemporary art with a specific substance abuse are scarce; there is some of that in the Vaults of Erowid, on Hyperreal an the Lycaeum.

And here comes the question to you:

How experience with certain mind altering substances influenced your or the friend’s of your friend creative process? Or maybe you tried good old sleep deprivation, fasting, meditation, or had a particularly juicy beef steak washed down with some passion flower tea that boosted your creativity? It would be great if you could provide an example of an artwork inspired/committed under the influence. Maybe the friend of your friend (could be imaginary one, why not!) showed it to you and you can copy it from the memory for me?

Sorry for the “nudge nudge, wink wink, saynomore” manner of putting things, but some healthy dose of paranoia is in order when dealing with the subject.

It would be fantastic if you could address that question in some way. You can send me a note or e-mail me here: siwanowicz@yahoo.com

I greatly appreciate your feedback, and obviously guarantee complete discretion from my and my friend’s side. But if you decide to write something to me, don’t use open text – just in case!

Spread the word!