It has been 23 years, Bryan Saunders‘ Drug-Influenced Self Portraits still garner contemplation on the internet. The artist had locked on to create at least one self-portrait every day and continue until the rest of his life.
From March 30th, 1995 he has created over 11,200 of them. Like fingerprints, snowflakes, and DNA they possess disparate properties. No two of his daily-self-portraits evoke similar features.
Artists, for hundreds of years, put themselves to represent the world around them. Whereas, Saunders believes in creating a paradoxical world. He places the world around him to represent himself. As he says, “I am more concerned with channeling experiences than I am collecting memories but I do both and much more.”
What’s inside an artist’s mind?
Creative minds, call it of an artist, a poet, a musician, or of a writer’s, are rarely tidy. The road to producing something unparalleled or exclusive is stuffed with inexhaustible rumination. Consequently, taking that imagination to reality require chewing over several predicaments. Over time, they are trapped in a cycle of undiagnosed mental health issues and addiction with mind-altering substances.
Saunders was another such artist who channels his anxious mind to visual art and musical performances. A way to deal with his demons.
He experimented with different drugs each day and sketched his portraits under its influence. The portraits narrate a powerful message- the power of addiction.
Here are some of the illustrations from his “Near Death Experience” album.
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Crystal Meth
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Ablify
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Absinth
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Adderall
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Bath salts
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Buspar
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Butane Honey Oil
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Cocaine
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Dilaudid
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Hash
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Heroin (Snorted)
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Huffin Gas
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LSD
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Marijuana
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Morphin
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Ritalin
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Salvia Divinorum
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Valium
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Viagra
