These drawings were done as part of a CIA experiment aimed at determining the effects of LSD on the human body. The drawings are incredibly fascinating, particularly due to the progression of style that occurs throughout the experiment. They administered 100ul of LSD to the artist and gave the artist free access to an activity box full of crayons. His subject was the medical assistant who administered the LSD.
1. Minute: 0 – Yep this is the control
2. Minute: 85 – Artist claims to be seeing much more clearly, but is having a hard time stopping the crayon.
3. Minute: 150 – Artist describes his drawing as changing color and that his consciousness is situated in his hand.
4. Minute: 152 – Artist is having a hard time distinguishing the lines on the paper, as they are warping before his eyes.
5. Minute: 155 – Attempts to draw picture in one stroke, breaks down laughing afterwards.
6. Minute: 165 – Artist no longer vocalizes his thoughts and mumbles nonsensical phrases.
7. Minute: 265 – Artist predicts that this will be his best drawing yet. Then continues to repeat the phrase “I know.” Then begins the run around the room.
8. Minute: 345 – Artist reports that he is getting back to normal now that he can feel his legs again, but the pencil (crayon) remains hard to hold.
9. Minute: 480 – Artist reports that he is no longer feeling the effects of the LSD and that he would like to go home.
Fin.
I particularly enjoy how from minutes 150 – 155 his drawings become far worse, then all of a sudden he is amazing.
What are your thoughts?
It’s not clear, how long this was: first is written p.e. 9 Minutes, then 480. So what???
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The total time was 480 minutes. Which means the drug was in effect for 8 hours.
I read once upon a time that the effect of LSD is to turn off the limiters on your senses so that you can see all the information the brain usually filters out as “useless.”
From my personal experience, I’d say its more likely that it shuts down the separation between conscious and subconscious and possibly even opens you up more spiritually.
Whatever LSD does, its fun as hell.
heck yeah it is. really opens your eyes to the beauty in this world
and who is to say that his drawing got worst? that is a general statement on opinion. They might have not been realtistic compared to what we see as real life but they sure as hell gave different perspectives on it, and brought out many dimensions of reality.
That’s very interesting. I love how the drawings suddenly become much better after a certain point in time. I’d never do LSD, though.
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I thought everysingle of his drawings where so good…. especially the seventh one
I think it’s coo that the last drawing seems more laid back and maybe happier than the first
i dont think any of these sketches are horrible they all carry some sense of structure while still triiipin
I love how the post says that from time 150-155 the drawings were “worse” when they were simply less detailed. You can definately see how his mind chose to emphasize or try to capture different things while on LSD that his sober mind didnt. I definately want to do this on myself drawing on LSD is one of the most fun things ever.
seriously, I like the artwork at Minute: 345 but just want to know what is the purpose of the LSD use on the human body? It would be glad if you can explain more about this. Thanks for sharing. bookmark and will come back again.
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Pretty neat experiment. I would now like to look into more experiments on this subject matter. Sparks my interest. I wonder if there are any things that can actually be done better while under these situations.
I doesn’t look like you young folks get it. LSD is a powerful mind altering drug – not a tool to twist your crayon. At least this is how it was intended – as a tool for a deep internal transformation. Not for the kicks.
This article shows a usual path of transformation. First, the author tries to hold to the classic patterns and “how drawings should be”. Second, he finds it harder and harder and more frustrating to stick to the rules (dr. 4). Thirdly, when the drug kicks in 100, he decides ta abandon the rules, and follow the psychedelic flow. He disconnects from the explainable and goes into the abstract (drawing 5.), and then purely post-sensual (my own word, but 6. 7. and 8. are representations far beyond the seeing alone, they represent how the author, the object and the environment intertwine).
5 and 6 are by far the most telling.
My understanding is that LSD directly effects the hypothalamus part of the brain, which controls one’s sense of time. This drawing experiment is fascinating because it, at least in part, illustrates what a person experiences when time itself is stretched. So what might the drawing look like if it were a depiction of the artist’s spouse?
That’s not crayon.
I have to say, I like the drawings throughout the whole cycle. They all are awesome in my eyes.