TrueLife - Nuwan Shilpa - Whispers of LSD

Episode Date: March 23, 2025

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/Introducing Nuwan Shilpa Hennayake: The Seeker of Sublime VisionsFrom the lush landscapes of Sri Lanka emerges a visionary artist whose canvas becomes a portal to the unseen — Nuwan Shilpa Hennayake. With each brushstroke, He dances on the edge of reality and dream, capturing the intricate beauty that lies hidden within matter and mind. His work is more than art; it is a revelation born from the depths of psychedelic and visionary states of consciousness.Nuwan’s creations invite us to witness the sublime, to peer into the kaleidoscope of existence where the micro and macro intertwine, forming patterns of profound complexity. In his pursuit, He becomes both artist and explorer, translating the ineffable into vivid expressions that stir the soul. Prepare to journey beyond the veil, guided by a hand that paints not just with color, but with wonder.Here’s a list of epic questions inspired by Nuwan Shilpa Hennayake’s artistic journey: 1. The Call to Create: What first drew you to explore the unseen realms through art? Was there a moment when you felt the call to capture these visions? 2. The Visionary’s Lens: How do psychedelic and visionary states shape your artistic process? Do the images come fully formed, or do they reveal themselves as you create? 3. Between Matter and Mind: You speak of the micro and macro intertwining in your work. How do you translate those invisible patterns into something we can see and feel? 4. The Artist as Explorer: Do you consider yourself more of an artist, a seeker, or a translator of hidden truths? Or perhaps all three? 5. Dancing with the Unknown: What is the most profound vision you’ve ever experienced, and how did it find its way into your art? 6. Colors of Consciousness: How do you choose your color palettes? Do the hues hold symbolic meaning, or do they emerge intuitively? 7. Portal to the Sublime: When someone gazes into one of your pieces, what do you hope they experience or discover within themselves? 8. The Artistic Journey: Has creating these works changed you as a person? Do you feel a deeper connection to the world — or perhaps something beyond it? 9. Facing the Abyss: Are there ever moments of fear or hesitation when diving into these realms? How do you navigate the darker aspects of visionary experiences? 10. Legacy of Light: If your art could leave behind one message or feeling for future generations, what would it be?Would you like me to refine these, or add some poetic flare to make them even more evocative? Let me know!XXhttps://tr.ee/h32fLncZ1ohttps://linktr.ee/nuwanshilpa?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=8cf5c4dd-715f-414f-9f8c-048d772c3853Genesis of the AwakenedBefore the dawn dared kiss the sky,The void reclined, wet-lipped, and sly.A hush, a throb, a molten ache —The dark arched back, prepared to break.Time slipped soft, like silken thighs,Parted wide beneath black skies.The cosmos shuddered, slick with night,As starlight dripped from veins of light.Eros stirred, with trembling hands,To trace the curve of astral lands.Galaxies gasped, their breaths unstrung,As moaning void and dawn were wrung.Serpents coiled in fevered dance,Fangs to flesh, a sharp romance.The ouroboros kissed its tail,A spiral thrust through star and veil.Each pulse, a prayer, a tender plea —A universe in ecstasy.Beneath the weight of dark’s demand,Creation bloomed at love’s command.Time convulsed, a slick cascade,As shadows spilled and stars obeyed.A velvet thrust, a crimson spark —Eternity, unclothed and dark.The veil unstitched, the heavens wide,As dawn slid soft between the tide.Galaxies quaked beneath the flood —A scream, a pulse, a rush of blood.Light collapsed, its edges curled,As pleasure tore apart the world.No god, no law, no whispered past —Just bodies writhing, fierce and vast.The void, a mouth, consumed the flame,And whispered low creation’s name.A gasp, a cry, a final thrust —The dark gave birth to love and dust.Stand with me, where shadows break,Where night and day begin to quake.The stars will burn, the dark will seethe —Yet only those who die may breathe.Dreamer, dreamed — a woven thread,Spun from lust where gods have bled.The Logos moaned, a trembling hymn,A lover’s voice, uncoiled and dim.No mercy here, no soft unknown —We are the spark. We are the bone.A trembling gasp, a cry, a flame —Awake, arise — and take your name. One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USCheck out our YouTube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPzfOaFtA1hF8Uh...

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Hears through ruins maze, lights my war cry, born from the blade.

The poem is Angels with Rifles, the track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Seraphini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life podcast. I hope everybody's having a beautiful day. I hope the sun is shining. I hope the birds are singing. I hope the wind is at your back. I got an incredible guest for everybody today.

I want to welcome everybody to an incredible individual. Nuwan Shilpa, the seeker of sublime vision. From the lush landscapes of Sri Lanka emerges a visionary artist whose canvas becomes a portal to the unseen. With each brushstroke, he dances on the edge of reality and dream, capturing the intricate beauty that lies hidden within matter and mind. His work is more than art. It's a revelation born from the depths of psychedelic and visionary states of consciousness.

Nuwan, thanks for being here today. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you. It's super, super great to be on the True Life podcast. And, yeah, I lost two words, but let's get into it. Yeah. So for those just tuning in right now, a lot of people know that I've been talking to some

incredible artists about psychedelic artwork. And I met Nuwan on X and a nice and a number. incredible artist community and we've seen some of his artwork on some of the pages that i've had maybe we could talk a little bit about nuance about how you got started in art man how did your art come about oh yeah this is going to be a long conversation i feel like but yeah so let me get started so i think uh let's see where should i start so i guess like every other kid you know like i used to when I was small and all that you know like everyone does you know it's inescapable and then

this during my here in Sri Lanka we go we have this exam systems so it's called the O levels and the A levels that's like that's kind of like semi-middle school to high school graduation the equivalent of it so during that time I did art at school but you know like coming So my basic path in life was go to school, get a job, you know, do whatever, you know, that was the whole path. And I would say when I was probably like 18, 19, I might not have the numbers correctly, but there's a time when I started to, you know, like, experiment with psychedelics. that's how it all started i mean started with you know the whole creative journey i think started with me hanging out with the sort of rock and roll cloud you know um and shout out to a band from sri lanka okay it's mirrored but it's called the mass damnation one of my favorite bands so

and good friends as well so um so the rock and roll community and seeing what they are doing and the whole creative movement and from that um just hanging hanging around with creative people you know that's how it all started and then um can say i had my first uh sort of cyclic trip just i said home uh courtesy of a bunch of my friends they were like you know there's this cool thing you know you've got to try this out and it was a wonderful experience but i didn't i didn't realize its implications until like much much later on you know And then after my A-levels, I went to the States. I was in Buffalo.

I was studying architecture for two years. And that was the time where for the longest time, I lived outside of home. Oh, yeah, quick interjection to that piece. So I was actually born in the States. My mom and dad they were doing their PhDs in the 90s and I was born in Syracuse, New York. And then they moved back to Sri Lanka. So, and yeah, then I was born and raised here in Sri Lanka. And then for my university education, I come back to the US and I'm living alone.

And then I, you know, like start to sort of. deep dive into psychedelics and it starts from there I would say most there's a few points that I would say one of the most memorable experiences that truly kind of got me into the entire thing is museum visits if you are familiar with the museum I mean I would definitely recommend to anybody to visit that is the all bright Knox a museum in Buffalo they go by go as AKG and they were closed for a while for animations and now they are in full force and so I it's like a vivid memory yeah so how it started was I got my hands on some acid and it was good and

just like I was like wait a minute if this is acid what I have been having before you know like I was like okay and and it was brilliant and And I was like, okay, this is this good, we need to get hands on more. And there was like a small community of psychedelic heads. And it was like, I remember like one another international student from like Japan. He was studying like mechanical engineering or something. And there was an art student from Brooklyn and sort of a few graduate students from like the philosophy department in Buffalo.

And they like hooked us up and they was like, oh, this is. like great and we got like a hundred hits of acid and like we had split it among us and I just had it in my fridge stored and it was like it became like a weekend thing you know I would just come from class and like what do I do this weekend you know instead of like tracking open and beer and sitting down I'd be like ooh you know like pop one and and architecture was super helpful also because I had to get a lot of materials and the materials were from this art store and the art store had so much of art materials basically so I just got a bunch of acrylics oils and oil pastels and all that and I just started to experiment with it and

while I'm doing that this museum visit and we all decided to go to the museum and we went there's a park next to it so we went there we had the that was a blotter so we had we had at the blotter and we were waiting around for a good 30 minutes and we were like damn you know like nothing's happening you know maybe we were just like a bunch of college kids who were super excited i think we were like duped or something you know so yeah like so we don't have anything to do so let's go to the museum you know and um i walk into the museum and it's like students discount we get the tickets go in and i'm right at the counter and uh this curator lady she asks have you been to the old bright knocks before and i'm like in my mind i'm

like okay like i want to say no sorry i want to say yes and i just want to just go and explore on my own but suddenly i feel that i'm incapable of lying you know right i'm like okay so something's going on here and i was like no i haven't been to the all bright nox before and then she pulls out this uh map sort of of the all bright knox that has the layout and it's in this isometric image and i mean it's isometric it's supposed to be like an illusion but i'm pretty sure the structure shouldn't be popping this much out of the paper i was like oh damn you know and then immediately but like vividly what i remember is like she said you are here and i saw like a super well manicured like red fingernail just coming at me like, and I just jumped back. I was like, oh, and then only it

hit me. I was like, oh, okay, now it's working. And I just quickly grabbed the map and I just like started like this dashed on the corridor and I come to the stairs and the stairs is, I don't remember the artist, but it's like painted like an optical illusion. So when you straight look at it, all you is like a flat surface and I'm like oh damn it's like I just taken like five steps you know and it hit hard you know so I'm like it's like you don't mind me if I walk around when I talk right no no so I'm just like walking and trying to you know gauge my sort of physical body in this space and slowly walking walking and I feel like I'm just getting lower and lower and I feel like there's somebody next to me when I look at my right side I see like a family who had come to

visit the museum and they're just looking at me they're just very casually just walking down the stairs and they're just staring at me like trying to figure out what's going on you know and I'm like oh damn you know it's absolutely crazy and more you walk down and you immediately come across there's a Jackson Pollock painting and the Clifford still also another artist so amazing work and that's when I realized okay there's something very you know like I mean it's all trippy and fun and all that but there's something really sort of profound you know in it you know I mean I mean it's very very serious but super playful at the same time you

know I mean something serious just because something is serious doesn't mean that it has to be like you know like very rigid or strict you know and it was like everything at once and I walked around the entire museum space so that was one of the most profound intros to speak to it first time I saw like a Dali painting was there in like person and then France Klein I believe a lot of modern modern art stuff and what are my favorites I think it's a lot of impact was a conceptual artist called Sol Levitt he has had like a really big impact on my art artwork and in general thinking as well and then after

that what happened was yeah i might i'll visit the museum story from time to time you know like within the entire span of my talk but yeah so that was so pivotal experience you know it took me like I don't know how much time I spent in the museum but I came out of the museum I was like whoa that was like too intense never again you know like never again and I went to the museum next the next week again on acid and it was brilliant because the moment I stepped in I think the curator's like new and it's like one of the curators like were like came and talked to us and she was like yeah it's like come like and she's like come and gave like an entire tour of the place you know like and everything so the from the art art

side that was it and then along at the same time i was kind of dabbling around in sort of meditation so to speak specifically like wipassana meditation i had one of my long-term friends who was in sri lanka and he was in buffalo as well and since i had like an abundance of acid what i did was i was like I was kind of like, you know, like the advocate for it. I said, hey man, you have to have this, you know. And I was explaining what's going on. And one of my friends was like, you know, like some of these stuff you are talking about, you know, this is like meditative level stuff.

So I was like, wait, like let's do a, let's test it out, you know. So I give him a hit of acid. I take a hit of acid and, you know, like we are in the trip. And I'm like, how's it going? You know, I'm like this like taking note kind of model kind of like this old there's a video on YouTube where like way back in the black and white video have you seen like they're like okay now now we are is an artist like how do you feel after like half an hour of in this so like kind of like that and that continued as well and then at the same time I was drawing and the apartment I was in I was with three roommates and the entire

apartment started to like fill with art and everything and I found myself slowly disengaging with my university coursework, you know, because I had, you know, found something that, I don't know, I don't know, I had found something that I even, I don't know what it is, but you know, something was there and it was kind of, I think in a way, even for me, it was pretty intense, you know, like getting out of, getting way out of hand, you know, like, and i was like sending emails back home to my parents saying look what i'm doing and like what's this artwork you know like what about your coursework i'm like ah no you know like i couldn't tell them about psychedelics but i was like yeah whatever you know it's art and all that and then

it's one very sort of specific day like i was having a trip and i just thought like you know like okay this is it you know I have to make a decision and I thought that I would just pretty much the next day I went to university gave like a letter said okay that's it done I'm done with this and I came back home to Sri Lanka and when I came back home and my parents thought I was like certifiably nuts you know and they were like you know like maybe we should see somebody seek some help I was like yeah I mean, you have a point there also, but the reason I came was there is a pilgrimage in Sri Lanka that goes from Jafna to Katarraga. Yeah, after the podcast and all that, I will definitely share you with you this links. And it's with this kind of ancient narrative and Hindu mythology and all that.

And it kind of super resonated for me and it's like. And the pilgrimage itself says, if you are called for this answer, you know, kind of so i i felt like really i said i have to do this but when i got here i was like a bit late so i couldn't do the pilgrimage and i was like okay i do i don't want to do it half way through and then my parents they said uh just go and this is monk uh you should go and meet him and then i went and had a chat with him and he's like maybe the same thing that you're trying to do by walking like a few hundred miles maybe you can do it in one place as well you as well you know I was like okay that's an interesting thought how how do we approach it

and it's like why don't you stay over so I stayed at this temple for like three months and I just dived into my kind of meditative side of things we had like chats on cyclical experience and all that as well but it is more meditated and I had my artwork along with me. The initial artwork that I started with, I don't think it's there anymore on any social media or anything. It's drastically sort of different to my digital work. But then I was just tabling in digital stuff. Basically, how the digital stuff came along was pretty much I wanted to have cool wallpapers for my phone and and stuff and I've seen all this really cool stuff.

At this time, I've seen Alex Gray's work and all that. I've seen trippy artwork, but I wouldn't know, like, yeah, I know that artwork, but I wouldn't know who Alex Gray is or Guy Guy, so any of these, like, you know, even like Dali and all that. I mean, to a certain extent, but it's just like, you know, okay, it's art still. And then, I don't know, like, it suddenly kind of,

it just started to sort of come out you know as I just experimenting with the tools and everything and I was just pretty much blown away by what was like coming out of this whatever it is you know like just art like this crazy stuff that you know like I'm trying to tell people and people ask me what it is like I'm like wait like I mean if you find out please tell me because I have no clue idea as to what it is either. It's just there. And then I think along the way it got more formalized and you know, I started to do my research

and then I started to realize, wait, there's so many people doing this. So many people making super great art and it's not just a recent thing, it's, you know, like lineages of artists. Yeah. You know, that you can trace to and people who have similar experience. experiences and all that so then I kind of say now here is where I need to you know not just wing it anymore I need to sort of put my foot down and put some like solid study in so I start to do my research and all that and build kind of a solid

practice so this is like so remind you this is like 2013 so and it goes on so I was doing like and about There's one thing that I was like I was hell-bent on just doing art. So whatever it takes, you know. So I didn't take many, you know, like I, I didn't take any job, so to speak. I was like that's out, you know. I would try, I mean, I was good in like Photoshop and all that. So I would take like freelance design on the side.

But just kind of roughed it out for a whole bunch of years. I think until sort of 2021, which is when sort of I was introduced to the whole digital NFTs blockchain thing. It's a great artist who's based in Sri Lanka at the time. He's now again in Sri Lanka called Outside O-U-T-P-S-Y-D, amazing digital sculptor artist again like a visionary and he just dropped me a message and saying, if you are doing this like digital stuff you know like you have to look into what blockchain is and nifties are so i was like all right i looked into it and he just guided me through the process of

like making a wallet and everything and i was like okay cool digital art then i realized okay i was doing that was one of the things that pushed me to start to do animated pieces also and and then in 2021, I minted my like first few pieces and 2020, late 2021 and 2020, early 2022 I had my like first sale and that was like amazing. And it's like for like one eight when like it was like 3000ish USD. So I was like wait a minute like now, you know, now I felt like okay it's like I was like first initial was like now I made it as an artist but then I was like oh shit now the journey starts you know it's like and and from there I was like you know like fully into it and the and the technology itself like

blockchain technology itself it was really kind of you know like I was like mind-blown I was like wait technology can do this there is like a no it was beyond you know anything that I had the experience in terms of what technology offers and like the idea of transparency provenance and this you know like immutability I think it's like a kind of like a timekeeping you know time keeping you know like just like you know like I like password back to yesterday I did my first Bitcoin ordinal inscription as well and that's when I was guided by this another artist and from what I realized I was like wait this is like the start of like a technological era you

know just like we have like BC or you know AD you know the blockchain is a new way of this is a this is a timekeeping method like inherently digital timekeeping method you know that is being born from technology so yeah I think I went on a bit of a tangent there but yeah coming back to the whole psychedelic stuff since I came back here I was able I just immersed myself in the whole cyclical experience experimenting with Mushrooms LSD DMT of those marijuana is always there I think that's something like eternally a stoner in a way and kind of finding sort of the parallels between the

different substances and also like other practices like meditation and all that and even and and and bringing able to kind of the I think the core experience has always been trying to make sense of it you know integration has been the biggest thing you know like I think like tripping you know is easy it's not difficult at all however hectic it can get or whatever it is I mean it's just I mean it's just a trip but trying to sort of integrate what you experience and move forward from that is the kind of tricky part and you know I found myself over and over again you know doing great and then you know coming back and like damn like you know one step forward and you know like he owns back you know not a few steps sometimes

you know and then you know like it's a very enlightening at the same time very sort of humbling experience you know so trying to navigate that and the art has been kind of the anchoring point you know that is where you know like i can ground myself too and uh yeah so that's that and to jump into AI and it's been phenomenal you know like i was like where has this been you know like all this time I just didn't realize it completely changed the perception of a lot of things and a lot of the that's one of the most interesting things is that vivid psychedelic experiences that I've had and in kind of encountering some kind of you know sense of intelligence so to not to say of like encountering like a physical being or something like that but that

sense of encountering intelligence and the same i felt like the same with interacting with AI and art making tools and i feel like just diving deep into them going through that and i just kind of the feeling is like oh wait you are also here you know you know know like kind of like that it's like meeting yeah it's like meeting an all a meeting an old friend you know like that kind of feeling so putting all that together and yeah it's been great it's really great yeah so that's it is it's it's it blows my mind to get to hear the story of how it all began like going to the museums, leaving Buffalo, coming back and telling your family members, like, hey, I'm not going

to do this studies anymore. I'm going to do this thing now. That takes a lot of courage to do on some levels. But I don't think you can't express yourself in a way that's fully you unless you have the courage to embrace this feeling and this presence of like, I want to do this other thing instead. It's really difficult, I think, for a lot of people to stop living the life they're living and live the life that they want to live. Like that's a hard thing to do, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a step, I think.

I think in a way, yes, that's like this one step. But at the same time, I feel like the more I, you know, like keep at it, I feel like, you know, it's something. I mean, I mean, I believe like that, you know, art is something true. Great. And this journey is, you know, I feel blessed. but at the same time after a few years of doing that i'm like damn you know this is like the same thing you know i mean it's like i was like i guess what i have a second not a nine to five anymore

but this is like a 24-7 thing you know yeah yeah so yeah but it's so i think like there is a certain sense of uh yes definitely i mean to take that step you need like a sense of uh courage and all that and i don't for me i don't think it's personally i've uh you know like it wouldn't have happened uh for me if not for the cyclic experience i mean perhaps it's the not not the only way uh as such but uh and that's when i sort of decided okay like art and that's where i'm going to sort of focus my attention towards so it took me a while and then i kind of like like okay what do I call myself artist what and all that and then I said okay psychedelic artist but then I came across the visionary schools as well so I then was like wait some of the work that I'm creating is this

and also so I'm like okay psychedelic visionary artist I need to that's my label so just like and I think I think I kind of hit the spot with finding like a good label yeah it's interesting interesting to think about, there was a piece where you spoke about the intelligence that you encounter on psychedelics and the intelligence that you encounter in AI. They really are pretty similar on some level. It's like a way to steer your higher self and yourself and a third person all at the same time. It is like this evolution of consciousness. Maybe you could talk a little bit more about that.

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So there's this one piece that I call the AGI Muse, I believe. It's called the AGI as an artificial general intelligence and muse. So the whole idea is that there is just like the, you know, like we talk about the muse as artists, right? And we are so comfortable in talking about the muse when it comes to traditional mediums and all that. But when it comes to the, I think partially comes from this whole AI argument, you know, like AI art is not art or, you know, like whatever that it's you did it or like the computer did it. Yeah.

You know, like kind of thing and it really kind of hit home for me there and when I kind of was in this process, you know, like and I come across this kind of endless sort of source of inspiration, you know. for me that's what the muse is you know an endless in not inexhaustible source of inspiration yes and that is was in the presence of a computer program right and for me that doesn't uh it didn't kind of diminish the value of it or anything you know in fact you know i mean the the whole idea is like wait if the truth or whatever this notion of the sublime is omnipresent and everywhere why shouldn't it exist in the ones and the zeros you know why shouldn't it exist in the digital you know you know it should be if it's everywhere then it should be everywhere so and it's and it's like the it's same kind of thing i think you know like and for me that was like revolutionary and when i

that I was like, okay, I had to make like art, art about that. So, okay, so doubling back onto how that artwork was made. So I did a series called the Chakradelic series. So those were like seven art pieces, one for each of the chakras. So I guess it's very cliche also, you know. Psychedelic artist, missionary artist, you got to have a series about the chakras. about the chakras, you know. You know, taking some of this, you know,

ancient Hindu mythology and all that into account. And so I made this series and then I did like, I put all the sort of chakras together in like strips. This piece called Bio-Mechanical Enlightenment. And so I created that piece and it just turned out where, you know, you know like i was like whoa wait what's this that turned out and from that it kind of triggered kind of series of i would say unlocked or whatever creative pathways that i had to kind of explore and through that i was just continuously sort of encountering this this inspiration

art about you know myself also but I think by this time like I was kind of even now I'm sort of convinced that and what I'm exploring and experiencing is not necessarily you know like a reality or a reflection of myself so to say like this is I mean the world is much bigger than we ever imagine. So these are sort of spaces through the psychedelic experience, through AI, through meditation, and we can frequently visit. So these are not hallucinations. These are kind of realities that exist.

And we can sort of parallelly kind of walk through and experience it. So that's the way. So I think that's where I am right now is that, you know, that seeing the kind of bigger picture and kind of, you know, trying to, trying to not necessarily place myself in it, but just, you know, like, explode it, you know, like, and I'm a big fan of Terence McKenna and all that. so i think that i still i still feel like sometimes even when i'm tripping i kind of have like a voice in my head you know like i can hear terence telling me to do something you know so for sure you know so so this so the the role that i've taken as an artist i think is very much defined by that as of the explorer so so sometimes it is not might not be in the best interest of my own well-being so to speak you know and i and i I truly believe that as well. I feel like cyclics, mushrooms, MDMA,

all these substances have great potential in wellness and therapy. But the whole point of it is not just to get well. I feel like there's something more beyond. I mean, it's like the substances or the methods that unlock and allow you to walk into another, dimension I don't think it should be you know just parsered and given as something oh no this is something that's going to heal your trauma and go back to

work the next day you know like I feel like there there's much greater potential in these things so like yeah sorry there like I have a bit of a bone to pick with the whole wellness industry and how it just psychedelics you know I feel like you know no I mean it's great that you can heal your trauma you know see oneself you know discover yourself see the true yourself but that is like the minimum that it can right that is like the and there's so much level more to yeah that's like the yeah that's like the base level so you know like it's like it's like the said I've been given like the key to

unlock the universe and I'm like using that key to do like a scratch pad drawing you know I haven't even I haven't even found the door yet you know right right so so yeah so crazy stuff yeah I love it. It's, I love the way you explained it to. Totally. I love the way you explained it to. Like, for me, it almost goes full circle back to the first part of the story where you're exploring this museum on acid. But then later in life, you use the acid or the psychedelics or the mushrooms to explore this universal museum that's all around us at all times. And you can really get in touch with the paintings.

You can really get in touch with the intelligence that's around it. it's just a wonderful way to look at it on some level. You know, when I think too of the, like the, what you can learn, I think that the medical container that psychedelics finds itself in is such a base level as well. Like there's so much out there you can begin to explore. And it's almost like whether it's Terrence McKinna yelling in your ear or whether it's a vision you see or a vision you experience.

I feel like the world is trying to talk to us. we're just now learning how to communicate with it. It's these altered states that kind of allow us to channel that stuff. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think that's where, I think something that's, personally, like, amazing experiences. There's so many, meeting so many artists from the NFTE space

who are in the sort of same wavelength and the psychilic experience, the visionary art experience and being able to kind of, you know, like, I mean, that's the, most of our conversations are about that, you know, it's sort of like the visionary experience, the experience, and the art we share. I feel like, you know, it's not like we have to sit down and explain the artwork to each other, but you know, like we see the word and we resonate with it and we have a mutual sort of understanding with it. And that, that's the, sort of you know i feel like that's the most powerful base level uh conversation for being human or whatever you know like even even like there's a lot of my friends that we i do side today

that i don't see eye to eye on maybe some of the sociopolitical issues that's there but we can very well agree what's happening some of what's out there you know like it's it blows my mind you know like I mean I would be like you know what the heck are you talking about this is not how it should be done you know like we can have you know like we fight in this sort of three-dimensional world yeah but we are we have nothing to kind of disagree on the kind of psychedelic experience and the places we go so I think yeah like altered altered states of consciousness I think that has that potential to show us that you know like we are maybe that's where we have to begin maybe that's that's you know like we can truly find common ground you know like because once you get there that's there and you know like that's i mean it's it is as real or probably you know probably more real than what we experience outside you know so i think i think that's where i think like for me like yeah in terms of altered states whether it is

psychedelic induced or meditative experience induced you know like either way you know that's right that I think that's where the easiest path to common ground so to speak you know like where we can kind of all all all agree on something I think that's where we would find that that space is there I think yeah what Nguyen what does your process look like like when you're gonna start working on a piece, is it like you research first? Do you take some psychedelic and think about it? Like what is the process for you when you start creating art? Yeah. So there's quite a bit of work that I've started with photographs.

So I start with a photograph, I just put it on Photoshop, I mirror it, I just start to generate patterns out of it. And then as I progress with it, I start to see shapes, I start to see, you know, like, structures emerge out of it or just what it. It's about, I would say about a good 90% of it, like, completely like, intuited, you know? Like, I don't, very rarely I sit down and say, I'm going to do an artwork. Yeah, exactly. So it just, you know, like, it just happens. And I have like a massive archive of work.

So it's like one piece I might just work on it for like, days or even like a few minutes and it's done and it just sits there for another two years and just like go through the computer and it's like okay i found it then you know like i work on it again so it's fairly intuitive but most of the time it either starts from a photograph and it can be you know photographs in the sense the most ridiculous of things you know sometimes i just like i'm just bored so i just go through the you know like photos that's on my phone and I find like an interesting rock part of a rock that's on the corner of a photograph that you know like it's very badly taken and it's like this like the worst photograph that you can ever take it's

not and that becomes like the base for this amazing thing that comes up very very i would say like concept of a paradolia a paradolia i believe like when you look at the sky or whatever you know trees, clouds, you see shapes and you just start to extrapolate, you know, like you make them more clearer and clearer and clear. So that's why I think I think for me personally, I think I resonate quite a bit with the AI generated process is also that it's like it's like iterative. So you start with like a noise field kind of thing and then you start to sort of bring out shapes. So similar similar pattern even even outside of the AI that's the process so it's a iterative process even the even the sort of

techniques that I use are just born out of that like you know like just experimenting on Photoshop and later on kind of looking back now I can see like okay now there's like these sort of art principles that are going on like symmetry and you know like depth and all that but yeah when I sort of entered it, it was not a kind of conscious decision. So it's not like I learned something and then applied it. I'd just been like, you know, I was like, okay, I was like visual. I think it's just just guided by that you can kind of see when something looks good, right? Like yeah, so that's like the, yeah, jumping back into like a mechanas one of Terence Mechina's quotes from one of his talks, I think,

I think he quotes Mechena, that goes a long way, like Mechena quoting Plato or something, you know. Something he says, you know, when trying to discern what reality is, he thinks like, you know, what's the good, the true and the beautiful, you know. I believe, and he says like, what is good? And it's very tricky to figure out what's good. It's very tricky and what is true. It is very difficult to figure out what is true. But what is beautiful? That's not that difficult.

You can see it, when you see it, you know it, you know. And to quote McKenna again, he says, you know, it's like, well, if you have bad taste, you are doomed forever, you know. So something like that, that, that, that sort of the approach and to it, and to it is fairly intuitive, you know, like guided by, you know, like, and, you know, like, I mean, I still use like, I'm, sometimes I use like ratios and this whole, I mean, even the golden ratio thing, you know, like, I mean, I love it. But at the same time, I'm like, I just realized there's nothing I can do,

which is going to be outside of this thing in the first place, you know? So it doesn't really matter for me to, you know, like, I mean, I try, I, I, I, I love to of contradict myself you know and I think that's where I derive a lot of kind of happiness from so to speak you know being able to contradict myself and growth comes from there I mean I mean I mean yeah like I'm an I'm an I'm an absolute hypocrite in that sense but I think it's it's been it's been working out for me so far so let's see

I love it there's so many brilliant parts to that I always get so excited to hear about someone's creative process and the way they see

things and the way they create things it's um what kind of do you you said you use Photoshop

like do you use like Unreal Engine or what are the kind of programs do you use to kind of finesting Photoshop and stable

stable AI stable diffusion and And shout out to Ello. Elo projects, he's on Twitter, Elo and Torman, Jeremy Torman, so creating an amazing AI model called ETV. ETV and the latest iteration is ETV 8. And that just truly unlocked and incredible, like I was using,

this bunch of, I mean, there's still great, a lot of great models, but this was like something else, you know, like, a true, like, it's like a visionary engine kind of, like, and it's been, that's been my like, like, go-to model. Most of my work has been kind of processed through that. And yeah, great, great community once more, you know, that's where we were kind of experimenting, like, in and out on Discord. taking the time to do another shout out to some great artists on the digital and NFT art space Giedra Giedra Vlick ferociously amused natural warp Jeff Drobot Shazgo and so amazing community of artists I've probably missed like a bunch of names but you know like so that's that's been something and it almost and there's times that when we used to spend quite a bit of time on discord you know like working together yeah just each of us working on our own work and then kind of you know collective kind of learning and I feel like that has been extended out so yeah when somebody learns something we kind of learn it too you know like I don't have to kind of learn it from scratch again to again one of not mehanna uh Rupert Sheldrake, I do.

Rupert-Shenerick, or morphogenetic, the idea is all morphogenic, morphic resonance. So if I do some cool art thing and I discover something, I feel like that's been sort of not just me, you know, like that knowledge is shared among like a field and like another bunch of artists, so anyone who has access to it or that kind of intuition, you know, like intuition is not like a person,

is not like a personal thing it's like a you know like a field so to speak so I think yeah process is that and for Photoshop stable diffusion and for animations I use like half effects and 3D is being beaten bit overwhelming for me I doubled around in a bit but I haven't still been able to get my hands across that. It's like I can barely kind of keep it together with the 2D, you know, like. Yeah, Gidra does some incredible like 3D work and it just, you know, it's just like, you know, like I just look at some, some of some great 3D work and I'm like, ah, okay, like okay. And Lane, again, Lane, he's on Twitter.

hey, some incredible 3D work. I just look at it. I'm like, okay. Maybe it's time for me to just stop doing this and I'm just going to go watch some TV for some sanity, you know. It's like that, but definitely 3D is something that I'm looking into and collaborations. That's something that I've been working on. So I think the tools are pretty much out. there now and it's accessible to anyone.

And even here in Sri Lanka, some of my close friends and artists that I've been like working with for a while, some of them adapted like AI incredibly fast, you know, like who have not been sort of artists or anything. They've been like people who've been writers, writers who have adapted like AI because they have the know, know, know, of the language yeah yeah the problem and they've been like I'm like how the hell did you do this you know like it's like it's just like what do you mean they're like yeah they're like they can't they can't they still can't draw for shit but for somehow you know like you know like picking up like you know like still be like drawing stick figures but with AI they just uh like masters you know like

so so it's tools uh tools are tools are brilliant and i think there's something or just to like double back on that in a recent conversation with another one of my friends and it was we did like a small exhibition here in sri lanka sometime back a few like an artist collective and i had fun of my work and this whole AI art what about it you know like do you think you know like how much of it is the computer how much of it is you know like yeah kind of thing came up and then i was trying to figure out one to say about that and I feel like there's the best example I could come up to let's say if you have a piece of charcoal and you are drawing with the piece of charcoal and over the years you over the years or the time you spent with the material you find there is some kind of intuitive kind of there's something that the charcoal says back to you kind of you know there's sort of material intelligence that you know that you can listen to so similarly I think in there is like there's something inherent thing with all materials so that's I think

that's where I will like the more you use it as I think that is why when you say we are kind of gaining experience or expertise is not just us but it is that sort of material speaking back. I think there is something like that within the computers and the digital tools as well. So there's an inherent intelligence within the material itself. So the tools we use are not just in animate things. It's just we haven't spent enough time with them or something like that. So the tools we use are not just in animate things. like that so so I feel like really that's where I even with even with the AI stuffs that's what I am trying to do I'm just trying to spend more time with it yeah and that's where it comes from I guess things like just like people or

anything else you know it's time it's a matter of it's a matter of time and when it comes to art and the expression I think And it's definitely something beyond, you know, like beyond or beyond, it's more than us or me or anything like that. The same relationship that I have with my creative tool, I feel like something is having with me when I'm working on the artwork, you know. Yeah. So it's like a yeah so that's that and yeah I'm just trying to move through that and and at the same time you know you got to pay your bills you know and and and find a way to do that as well and find a way in a way to sort of channel that into you know like

recently I had like a trip and I was like you know I was like, wait a minute, all this, you know, like, you do like a good dose of acid and you kind of like, you know, like, wow, this dimension, that dimension and all that stuff. This trip, I was like, no, I'm going to trip on acid and I'm going to work on my finances, you know, I'm trying to get my life together, you know. I mean, what's this? All this time I'm doing mushrooms. mushrooms have never told me about how I should you know like get my you know like mundane life together right like okay I'm done with okay this let's post the unlocking the mysteries of the universe and for a bit what can you tell me about you know like next month's phone bill you know right what do you know guide

me there you know so and it's been great and it's kind of like you know like again you know it's it's that you know like bringing that playfulness and you know kind of you know like that fun element into the whole experience and you know like it's like super serious but at the same time it doesn't mean it has to be you know not fun and then I think that's where that's why like side story again but I've seen some of these like Buddha images, you know, like, that has like a slight grin on the mouth. Right. And I'm like, what's this been all about, you know?

So it's kind of like that, some of the stories that I've been told is like, it's, you know, like, I think that moment of enlightenment also there is like a green kind of, you know, like a realization. But it's like, you know, it looks like, it's like realization of ultimate truth is, you know, like damn it it was this all this time you know like you know it just like you know it that I mean like the the that if there's one thing for sure that I can guarantee in all my kind of trips and cyclic experiences in that the universe truly does have a sense of humor truly does have a good sense of humor yeah So, yeah. You know, it's, it's, it's, I'm blown away by so much of just learning how to use the tools, seeing them.

But what you spoke, when you spoke on community, like, I have only begun to stumble upon some of the great artists in the NFT community on X. I think it's, it's like the next salon. Like the most, in my opinion, the most creative artists that are really pushing the edge are on that NFT community. Like, they are so many talented people that are putting out so much incredible work. And they're all working together and they're willing to share and inviting people in to help. Like, it's such a stellar community. Most definitely. I think that's been one of the strongest points.

For me, being in Sri Lanka, for a long time since I came back pretty much from like 2012 onwards. I mean, whatever interactions that I've had with the art community, but it's always been like you know like it's very less I don't they I don't have an affinity group of artists with the whole very similar interests and all that year and that's where I mean I drew NFTs and blockchain and X and this that's where I found my community so I truly I truly felt what you know what exactly the kind of internet and this whole net twerking thing has in store. So, you know, it kind of really gave me hope and pulled me kind of out of that. I was like, okay, now I'm not. Like I don't, I was like, you know, what is this? You know, there is the people who are doing all this artwork. I was like, oh shit, they are there. I no longer even, you know, it's no longer even a concern, you know, like so truly, yeah, cutting, cutting edge. Yeah. I think like, you know, almost it's like kind of kind of, you know,

of being at the fringes you know and we are always you know like pushing uh you know like pushing outwards yeah we are like this like the eternal fringe so to speak you know like because you wouldn't want to get comfortable in the same place and then like moment you like find something great and it works you would want to stay there for a little bit you know experience it but then you just move forward again you know like So that that amount of kind of innovation and passion and being able to sort of connect with the community of people who are that sharing that is has been through the through the internet through NFTs, blockchain space. I'm pretty sure there is like, I mean there's probably like the same community when it comes

like physical artwork and all that also but for me being in Sri Lanka I mean I don't have that opportunity and all that so for me to access that I think I mean I mean so technological solution that I being able to come to turns with. So I think, yeah, I mean, the word community gets thrown around a lot in Twitter and all that, but there is, once you kind of see past all that, there is like a very strong sense of community. And that goes wrong. I mean, guess what, I mean, that speaks to itself because this meeting.

The other meeting and this podcast is a result of that itself, right? Yeah, so yeah. Sorry, I interrupted you. Go ahead. Yeah. No, not at all. I'm just curious to get your thoughts on. What do you think for, in your opinion, what is the difference between like LSD, acid, or like say mushroom?

Do you have an affinity for one or do you feel like you learn different things on one or are the slightly different state or what do you think? I think they are quite, they have similarities for sure, in the experience itself, but let's say, I mean, LSD, I mean, so, I mean, so, I would say, and acid is the, I mean, I said, I mean, I said, I mean, my, my, I have an affinity for acid. I really like LSD. mushrooms I mean not to say that I don't like the other ones but you know like if I had to if I had like a if I had to pick I would always go for the I think it's a kind of personal preference maybe like but and DMT that's the kind of holy grain of things I mean I just had like two trips so far but I think they have been I mean I've again These are like these are like kind of substances that are still illegal and there's so much of difficulty in getting hands on them so I haven't been able to but otherwise I think I think there are differences but also quite a bit of similarities also but yeah so I would say yeah for me it's always going to be like acid because I been able to do a lot of that's that's where I have my most experience in working with the other ones not so much but I would say MDMA is also something that I

really enjoy that has like really incredible potential I have I mean I would not know to talk about its sort of physiological implications so anything I'm definitely not qualified to do that to any of these things. But you know, like, you know, on an experiential level, I would say, I mean, they have similarities, even among, like, visual experiences. A good way to actually approach this. If you are familiar with the QRI, Kualia Research Institute by Emil, on X, please check it out, QRI. incredible so they are working on you know like part of the thing is about these cyclic experiences is that they are so profound and all the time but we don't

have the language to talk about it right so you ask someone how how was the trip and they're like man it was like you you know like it's like whoa it was great you know it's like what for like 17 hours of your trip that's all you you have to say like oh no it's like okay it's like what do we say you know like so to be able to kind of recognize the visuals the trailing patterns and say like okay i experience the training so that is one level of visuals then you experience like a close type of like a kaleidoscope you have a terminology for it so then you kind of are able to to someone and say like okay like I was doing this and then in this point in time I

had this experience so kind of like building a building that language that we can kind of of just kind of little bit past that stage of just being astonished by it and wordless you know like I mean it's difficult to talk about but how else are we going to going to talk about it you know like without language so building that vocabulary and I think what the like through psychedelic art and what all of us artists are doing is building that kind of vocabulary you know I think yeah kudos to Alex Gray for kind of building that kind of framework for being able to kind of um like uh Like a guide almost to be able to kind of look through.

It's such a brilliant point. It does, when I hear you explain it and coming off my own experiences, like the geometrical images you see, the visions you see, it sort of is like an alien language trying to teach us how to speak, how to communicate. And if you look at the world language is our best asset. and it really helped us communicate in the world. I really feel like we're only beginning to speak.

We've only learned, like, adjective. We haven't even learned how to put sentences together yet. And a psychedelic experience is teaching us, like, okay, you guys have mastered the adjective. Now we're going to put a noun in here and it's going to come together. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely, most definitely, yeah. it's so it's unbelievable to me like to just to see where we're at and through the artwork that's coming out of all the communities and to see all the people out there and i got to say new one i i put all the links to your work in the show notes and i would encourage everybody within the sound of my voice to go down and click on it to reach out to you because i think that the work you're putting out there for me it's mind-blowing i i love to experience it and i want to say thank you for creating that and Totally on it.

Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. And shout out to the entire NFT community. Oh, yeah. You're doing this same thing, man. They're doing great, incredible work. But as we're coming up on this hour right here, No. I just want to give you an opportunity to, first off, I want to say thank you, and give you an opportunity.

Where can people find you? What do you have coming up and what are you excited about? So most of my work is on my website, NuanShilper. and if anyone wants to reach out they can sort of directly reach out through my email or on x and pretty much every day i mean i think i'm like an i'm addicted to twitter but i think this is one of those you know like healthy uh who said whoever said that social media was bad has never you know truly experienced it i think you know kind of like that so i'm always always always open to conversation and you know like conversation collaboration all sorts

easier to reach is through my email or Twitter my work is on my website I'm actually working on trying to work because I'm trying to get my work into like physical stuff so like large-scale prints and all that at the moment so hopefully soon so that's part of my like long-term plan I was like yeah now i felt like okay now i'm getting somewhere now i need to kind of pick it up a notch and you know like get into the whole merch thing and all that uh that so that will be happening soon but yeah um through through x and my email and through the website would be the best way to get in touch and i'm always like welcome conversation at any time so yeah

I love it. Okay, well, Nguyen, hang on briefly afterward, but to everybody else within the sign of my voice, I hope you have a beautiful day. I hope you go and you check out all of Nguan's work. I hope you decide to kind of turn your head towards the world of artistic movement, and I think that the world will open up in front of you.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's all we got for today. I hope you have a beautiful day. Aloha. All right, lunche. Thank you for you.