The world of psychedelic art has been around for as long as people have been getting high and picking up paintbrushes. Many believe it reached it's popular peak in the late 60's when the hippy movement and flower power was all the go. I guess that is a fair argument. That's not to say that psychedelic and visionary art isn't popular anymore. Far from it - there are thousands of psychedelic and visionary artists around the globe who are creating amazing images using a whole range of interesting techniques.
Here I would like to present what I believe are some of the leading psychedelic and visionary artists working in the field today. Some of these artists are so technically brilliant in their usage of digital processes that it makes my mind boggle as to how they do it. A number of these names will be instantly familiar to some of you such as artists Alex Grey and Martina Hoffmann while others might be lesser well known so take the time to follow up on them and visit their websites for some amazing visions of the inner mind.
This list is in no particular order and I'll add more details about other artists listed soon so check back again sometime.
1. Andrew ( Android ) Jones
Currently one of the leading digital psychedelic visionary artists in the world today. Andrew works in the field of visual concept art, creating images for film, fashion and gaming. More recently he has been working on designs for music festivals and bands. His artwork has been featured on album covers of several electronic and psybient music artists such as Bluetech, Beats Antique, Sporeganic, and Phutureprimitive.
2. Justin Guse
Justin is a highly skilled digital artist who creates stunning fantasy visionary hybrids. He is also very active in creating vector art, logo designs, promo material and user interfaces. His work has a leading edge look to it that combines patterns and shapes from a digital world with the more organic feel of spiritual practices.
3. Tokio Aoyama
An artist who paints with a combination of metaphysical, spiritual, and music themes, Tokio Aoyama hails from a tiny town in the north of Japan. Tokio has painted murals and has done commission work for clients all over the world. He has designed art for record labels Epistrophik Peach Sound, Mello Music, Moamoo, and Jazzy Sport. Presently he is looking to share insight into Japanese culture, history, and tradition such as tattooing and art trends of present day Japan.
4. Andy Thomas
Andy Thomas' work creates a visual fusion between Nature and Technology. By taking photos of plants, insects and machines and compositing them with artificially created forms in various 3D programs. The very process of the art he creates is symbolic of mankind’s continuing corruption of the natural world. His photographic endeavours have led him to such exotic locations as Borneo, Laos and the rainforests of Tasmania and the Daintree River.
5. Carey Thompson
Carey creates wildly colorful psychedelic vision that include concepts of spirituality, molecular biology, environmentalism and global peace. In recent years he has worked on large scale sculptures and bio-constructions for music festivals and spiritual gatherings.
6. Justin Bonnet
Justin is a new artist on the scene who is really pushing the envelope with what can be achieved using digital techniques. His understanding of color and composition is as good as I've ever seen. Truly remarkable work and he deserves more attention from the art world that's for sure. He is currently busy working full time to support his love of art so let's hope he can one day get enough fans to support his artwork full time.
7. George Atherton
Another huge young talent in the field of artistic psychedelic visions. George works primarily in the digital medium. After drawing concepts in his sketchbooks and dream-journals, he fully realizes those concepts using an electronic drawing pad and digital ink. He draws inspiration from a variety of related subjects, including meditation & Yoga, martial artistry, lucid dreaming, comparative mythology, culture jamming, and permaculture. Superb artist.
8. Luke Brown
Luke is well known in the psychedelic community for being one of the first artist to create complex, vividly colorful psychedelic art that combines traditional and digital techniques. His art has been shown internationally with such visionary heavyweights such as Alex Grey, HR Giger, Robert Venosa and Ernst Fuchs. His art is highly sought after - so much so that his has had the misfortune of seeing a great deal of his art work, including digital files and full sculptures , stolen by thieves over the past few years !
9. Mario Martinez
Mario, a.k.a MARS-1, paints from a penetrating perspective of great depth. Viewers are drawn into his imaginative compositions, overflowing with colorful geometric and organic shapes, layered to form unique patterns and textures. The artist signature style of vast, abstracted, quasi-extraterrestrial looking landscapes feature imagery of surreal distortions, contained within spherically convex transparent bubbles.
10. Fabien Jimenez
Fabian draws inspiration from nature, mainly from the architecture of insects and plants. He is deeply obsessed with the tiny micro patterns nature is capable of bringing everywhere; their intricate shapes reveal grids of sacred geometry, and it is there where he take his pencil and attempts to channel them. Although he is a highly skilled traditional artists I think it is his recent digital work with ZBrush and Painter where he really shines.
11. David Normal
12. Amanda Sage
13. Alex Grey
14. Martina Hoffman
15. Chris Dyer
16. Adam Pinson
17. Daniel Rozenberg
18. Patrice Hubert
19. John Magus
20. Cameron Gray
21. Keerych Luminokaya
22. Matei Apostolescu
23. Josip Csoor
24. Skee Goedhart
25. Eric Nez
26. Jess Noemind
27. Hana Alisa Omer
28. Neil Gibson
29. Pouyan Khosravi
30. Dennis Konstantin
31. Shawn Hocking
32. Roman Villagrana
33. Seth McMahon
34. Ted Wallace
35. Simon Haiduk
36. Isaac Mills
37. David Heskin
38. Adam Scott Miller
39. Kelsey Brookes
40. Patricia van Lubeck
41. Michael Divine
42. Randal Roberts