Artist Takes Every Drug Known to Man, Draws Self Portraits After Each Use

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Did a search and didn't see anything, thought it was very interesting.

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This is all kinds of cool, and everything your mother told you not to do. Bryan Lewis Saunders is an artist from Washington D.C., not just any artist though. Saunders prefers to take a more unconventional approach to his artwork.

Arguably his most interesting project, entitled DRUGS is described as follows:
“After experiencing drastic changes in my environment, I looked for other experiences that might profoundly affect my perception of the self. So I devised another experiment where everyday I took a different drug and drew myself under the influence. Within weeks I became lethargic and suffered mild brain damage. I am still conducting this experiment but over greater lapses of time. I only take drugs that are given to me.”  
Below, you can view a collection of portraits Saunders drew while under the influence of various substances ranging from cocaine, to marijuana, to DMT. Each portrait is an astonishing look into the mind of someone tweaked out on drugs, something that your eyes will surely appreciate.
[h2]Abilify / Xanax / Ativan[/h2]

[h2]90mg Abilify[/h2]

[h2]1 sm Glass of “real” Absinth[/h2]

[h2]10mg Adderall[/h2]
 

[h2]10mg Ambien[/h2]
 

[h2]Bath Salts[/h2]
 

[h2]15mg Buspar (snorted)[/h2]
 

[h2]4 Butalbitals[/h2]

[h2]Butane Honey Oil[/h2]

[h2]250mg Cephalexin[/h2]
 

[h2]1/2 gram Cocaine[/h2]
 

[h2]Computer Duster (2 squirts)[/h2]
 

[h2]2 bottles of Cough Syrup[/h2]
 

[h2]1 “Bump” of Crystalmeth[/h2]
 

[h2]4mg Dilaudid[/h2]
 

[h2]1 shot of Dilaudid / 3 shots of Morphine[/h2]

[h2]DMT[/h2]
 

[h2]60mg Geodon[/h2]
 

[h2]Hash[/h2]
 

[h2]Huffing Gas[/h2]
 

[h2]Huffing Lighter Fluid[/h2]
 

[h2]7.5mg Hydrocodone / 7.5mg Oxycodone / 3mg Xanax[/h2]
 

[h2]3mg Klonopin[/h2]
 

[h2]10mg Loritab[/h2]
 

[h2]Marijuana (Kine Bud)[/h2]
 

[h2]G13 Marijuana[/h2]
 

[h2]Morphine IV[/h2]

[h2]Psilocybin Mushrooms (2 caps onset)[/h2]
 

[h2]2mg Nicotine Gum[/h2]
 

[h2]Nitrous Oxide[/h2]
 

[h2]Nitrous Oxide / Valium I.V.[/h2]

[h2]PCP[/h2]

[h2]7.5mg Percocet[/h2]

[h2]2 Pot Brownies[/h2]
 

[h2]1 Glass of Pruno[/h2]
 

[h2]Marijuana Resin[/h2]
 

[h2]4mg Risperdol[/h2]
 

[h2]Ritilin (doseage unknown-snorted)[/h2]
 

[h2]Salvia Divinorum (right before but mostly right after)[/h2]
 

[h2]100mg Seroquel[/h2]
 

[h2]100mg Trazadone[/h2]
 

[h2]20mg Valium[/h2]
 

[h2]Valium I.V. (doseage unknown in hospital)[/h2]
 

[h2]Valium IV, (Albuterol, Saline & Oxygen) mixture[/h2]
 

[h2]2mg Xanax[/h2]
 

[h2]50mg Zoloft (after 2 weeks prescribed)[/h2]
 

[h2]10mg Zyprexa[/h2]
 

[h2]Ativan / Haloperidol (doseage unknown in hospital)[/h2]
 

More info on Saunders can be found at his personal website.
 
I'm enthralled and freaked out at the same time. When i'm old and hopefully have accomplished all i want in life, i prolly would try all sans meth. nitrous oxide during wisdom teeth extraction was crazy.
 
very interesting.

Duke barely even tried on DMT....or maybe he tried too much.
 
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Saw this the other day on twitter pretty cool. Dude is a brave sould but dope nonetheless :lol:
 
250mg Cephalexin? Thats an antibiotic, I was taking 500mg and didn't feel like I was on anything
Unless I'm doing it wrong...
 
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250mg Cephalexin? Thats an antibiotic, I was taking 500mg and didn't feel like I was on anything
Unless I'm doing it wrong...

The whole thing is pretty suspect (not saying he didn't do all these drugs). He knew which drugs he was taking, so just that knowledge heavily influenced the art. People react to different drugs in different ways, and his portraits reflect kind of the "ideal" state of mind someone would be in, doing each drug. Almost like he was a perfect specimen of some sort. Also, the common effects of some drugs are pretty similar, and to have such drastically different reactions for each individual drug (and method of consumption) just doesn't make sense.

Obviously there's no way he could blindly take drugs and see what happened, but hypothetically, if he could, I bet you'd get a much different result.
 
Although I don't necessarily condone recreational drug use in this fashion, the concept is quite thoughtful and creative.
 
The whole thing is pretty suspect (not saying he didn't do all these drugs). He knew which drugs he was taking, so just that knowledge heavily influenced the art. People react to different drugs in different ways, and his portraits reflect kind of the "ideal" state of mind someone would be in, doing each drug. Almost like he was a perfect specimen of some sort. Also, the common effects of some drugs are pretty similar, and to have such drastically different reactions for each individual drug (and method of consumption) just doesn't make sense.
Obviously there's no way he could blindly take drugs and see what happened, but hypothetically, if he could, I bet you'd get a much different result.

I know its not literally what he sees, but an interpretation of how he feels as well (?) But yeah, I'm sure he does some type of research on the drugs hes going to take, so I don't see why he would choose Cephalexin seeing as its not possible to get high from it.
 
ehh, seems kinda sketchy. So while he is on bath salts he is composed enough to draw a self portrait? or is this an after thought ( after the drugs wear of, this is how he felt)
 
I'd like to see him draw himself while sober though :lol:.

For those who are familiar with any of the drugs, how strong are the dosages?
 
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