SARs (structure/activity relationships of the classical psychotomimetics and their analogs)
Installations variable.
1980s - 2001. Information compilation via libraries and later online sources.
Photo digital intaglio on BFK Rives from vector graphics. (6 prints)
Acoustics of Print vs. Code: In the expansive iteration of the SARs cycle, the artist constructs a totalizing visual archive of psychoactive architecture. By translating the vector blueprints of Tryptamines, Phenethylamines, and Arylcyclohexylamines into the physical, deep-pressed ink of digital intaglio, the work explores the human drive to systematically map, categorize, and control altered states of consciousness.
The Weight of "Unknown": A compelling recurring element across these charts is the word unknown stamped in sans-serif type under fields for dosage or duration (notably visible in the Arylcyclohexylamines cyclohexyl ring modifications). This text acts as an entry point for the sublime. The grid attempts to measure, bound, and contain the chemical experience, yet the data gaps explicitly acknowledge the limits of human knowledge and laboratory quantification.
The Monumental Void: Standing back from the installation view, the dense rows of chemical structures form a compact matrix anchored in the center of an expansive sheet of paper. The sheer amount of empty margin space contextualizes the entire project. The taxonomy becomes an aesthetic relic—a small, highly organized island of human classification adrift in a vast, unknowable void.
The Legacy of Transgression: By explicitly referencing the chemical frameworks developed by figures like Dr. Alexander Shulgin, Dr. Albert Hofmann, and Dr. Paul Stamets, the project documents a unique cultural and historical pivot. It visualizes the transition era when fringe, underground chemical discoveries shifted from obscure, physical library texts into open-source digital databases.
The visual structure mimics early internet repositories and underground indexing templates from the 1980s through 2001. By placing compounds like Ketamine, Mescaline, or 2C-D into identical boxes, the work enforces institutional rationality over substances renowned for altering human perception.
Safely locked within their grid structures, the structural formulas for substances like DMT, Psilocybin, and Ketamine are stripped of their chaotic sensory outcomes and presented as quiet, bureaucratic codes. However, through recurring data omissions—marked by the haunting repetition of the word unknown—and the vast negative space that isolates the central matrix, the artwork highlights the permanent tension between the cold precision of scientific classifications and the unquantifiable depths of human experience.
Indebted to Dr A. Shulgin, Dr Paul Stamets and Dr. A. Hofmann especially.