This is your brain on drugs: Adventurous artist draws dozens of bizarre self-portraits while high on various powerful narcotics




This, in case you've ever lain awake at night pondering it, is what happens if you have the desire to mix drugs with paint.

Washington DC-based artist Bryan Lewis Saunders did just that to create his aptly entitled portfolio of work, DRUGS.

From cocaine and marijuana, to Xanax and Absinth, these narcotics-inspired self-portraits capture the many faces of Mr Saunders as he experiments with a cocktail of illegal substances.

Inspired by Xanax is a psychedelic hipster-esq pastel image of Saunders donning a 'My Little Pony' t-shit and beanie hat (left). 'Hash' emits a similar ecstasy, with brightly coloured swirls of crayon surrounding his balding head (right)



In 'Psilocybin Mushrooms (2 caps onset)' Saunders looks utterly thrilled, his eyes bulging and his mouth formed in an extatic grin (left). In '1 sm Glass of “real” Absinth' his raw outline is line-drawn in what looks like charcoal, smudges around his pin-dot eyes making him look like he is crying (right)



Reminiscent of the 1987 PSA 'Brain on Drugs' the artwork is an alarming home truth of what narcotics can do to the mind.

'After experiencing drastic changes in my environment, I looked for other experiences that might profoundly affect my perception of the self,' he wrote in a commentary accompanying the collection.

'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.'

Inspired by Xanax is a psychedelic hipster-esque pastel image of Saunders donning a 'My Little Pony' t-shit and beanie hat.

'Hash' emits a similar ecstasy, with brightly coloured swirls of crayon surrounding his balding head.

And in 'Psilocybin Mushrooms (2 caps onset)' he looks utterly thrilled, his eyes bulging and his mouth formed in an extatic grin.

In '1 sm Glass of “real” Absinth' his raw outline is line-drawn in what looks like charcoal, smudges around his pin-dot eyes making him look like he is crying.

'10mg Adderall' has Saunders transformed into a bespectacled adder (left) while his disembodied hand supports his head in '10mg Ambien' (right)



Words fail the description of 'Bath Salts', by far the most disturbing image, hacked into the paper with frustrated pen jabs (left). Almost as disturbing is 250mg Cephalexin, sketched in smudged neon green ink, depicting Saunders wearing a Klu Klux Klan style headdress (right)



In the style of 'The Shining' Saunders recites 'melting on the couch' over and over in '4mg Dilaudid' (left) while in 'Butane Honey Oil' a mechanical instrument is drawn into his head, in place of his brain, a self-satisfied smile on his lips, his eyes closed (right)



'10mg Adderall' has Saunders transformed into a bespectacled adder, while his disembodied hand supports his head in '10mg Ambien'.

Words fail the description of 'Bath Salts', by far the most disturbing image, hacked into the paper with frustrated pen jabs. His warped features sit skew-if on his face, his bared teeth riddled with dirt.

Almost as disturbing is 250mg Cephalexin, sketched in smudged neon green ink, depicting Saunders wearing a Klu Klux Klan style headdress.

And in the style of 'The Shining' he recites 'melting on the couch' over and over in '4mg Dilaudid'.

The candidly honest portfolio continues with '15mg Buspar (snorted)', a saintly-looking image of Saunders with his eyes closed behind a wash of bright yellow. One of the less erratic portraits, he looks almost peaceful.

In 'Butane Honey Oil' a mechanical instrument is drawn into his head, in place of his brain, a self-satisfied smile on his lips, his eyes closed.

'1 shot of Dilaudid / 3 shots of Morphine' has the artist take on an Egyptian-style look, with a decorative headdress and pink super-hero eye-mask.

As with many of the images he is out of human proportion, an outstretched hand almost twice the size of his face.

'DMT' is a bizarre contrast of utterly unfathomable etchings on top, a spirally mess of thin lines, and a scientific labeled diagram detailing 'head' 'open space' and 'connecting sensation'.



'1 shot of Dilaudid / 3 shots of Morphine' has the artist take on an Egyptian-style look, with a decorative headdress and pink super-hero eye-mask (left). 'DMT' is a bizarre contrast of utterly unfathomable etchings on top, a spirally mess of thin lines, and a scientific labeled diagram detailing 'head' 'open space' and 'connecting sensation'



Wording in '60mg Geodon' reads 'Do not drink alcoholic beverages when taking this medication' which one might suspect he has done given the pained, blotchy self-portrait its influence has provoked (left). '10mg Loritab' appears to be one of the more normal sketches (right)

In 'Marijuana (Kine Bud)' Saunders gets all multicultural with a rainbow turban balanced atop his head (left). In 'G13 Marijuana' Saunders embraces his love for pot, painting a marijuana plant leaf on his forehead, above dazed eyes (right).



Wording in '60mg Geodon' reads 'Do not drink alcoholic beverages when taking this medication' which one might suspect Saunders has done given the pained, blotchy self-portrait its influence has provoked.



'10mg Loritab' appears to be one of the more normal sketches, relatively lifelike with in-proportion features and appropriate shading.

The same cannot be said of '3mg Klonopin, which can only be described as a pre-schooler's impression of a robot. Or perhaps a man in a spaceship. Who knows?

In 'Marijuana (Kine Bud)' Saunders gets all multicultural with a rainbow turban balanced atop his head.

And in 'G13 Marijuana' he embraces his love for pot, painting a marijuana plant leaf on his forehead, above dazed eyes.

In '2 Pot Brownies' Saunders morphs into the caricature promoting a line of brownie mix (left). '1 Glass of Pruno' sees him become a weird limbed cross (right)



In '4mg Risperdol' Saunders becomes a spider diagram (left), in '100mg Trazadone', a scientific equation (right)



'Nitrous Oxide / Valium I.V.' depicts a limbless Saunders in what appears to be either a coffin or a womb, looking gormless and simplistic.

While in '2 Pot Brownies' he morphs into the caricature promoting a line of brownie mix.

'1 Glass of Pruno' sees him become a weird limbed cross, '4mg Risperdol' a spider diagram and '100mg Trazadone' a scientific equation.

In '90mg Abilify' he embodies an odd pink pool of nothing-ness, bearing no resemblance to the human form.



The only portrait with other people in it is '10mg Zyprexa', in which Saunders casts himself in a queue of people waiting in line to see a cashier. He is at the front, labeled 'me', ahead of others including Baker, Casey, Lyda and Hoppes, to name a few.

The portfolio appropriately ends with 'Ativan / Haloperidol (doseage unknown in hospital)' in which Saunders only retains half his face. As good a place as any to stop, the word 'Medication' scrawled beneath.

