Blending themes of morbid corporeality with a colorful, loony aesthetic descended from comics and cartoons, today’s guest has developed a unique style that has a profound effect on viewers, whether on the street or in the gallery. In Nychos’ world, Spongebob has a skeleton, people live inside rabbits, and there is always something wicked beneath the surface!
“At first, I was dissecting stuff and [revealing] all the layers, so you see the anatomy. Suddenly, I started painting a lot of translucent, see-through works. There was definitely more dark energy in it, more aggressive [energy], but also, I started to enter a phase where — with this translucent work — there was already a lot of spirit energy in it. I later found out that this was very much connected to what was brewing inside of me.” — Nychos [0:10:13]
Nychos is an Austrian illustrator, artist, and the Founder of Rabbit Eye Movement, an operating collective that serves as an exhibition space, shop, and international movement. He is known for his characteristic dissection, cross-section, x-ray, and translucent styles, often portraying animals and characters drawn from pop culture. We had the opportunity to sit down with Nychos to discuss his new show, The Awakening, which you can view at Mirus Gallery in Los Angeles until May 2022.
The exhibition is dedicated to this intense creative phase in Nychos’ life and, as you’ll discover in today’s episode, it presents a body of work that speaks to the artist’s suffering, insight, and healing; his falling apart and reassembling. For a fascinating and deeply personal conversation with the super talented and thought-provoking artist, Nychos, be sure not to miss this episode!
“I understood that I can channel the information, the trauma from the past lives into my work and I started to understand that me doing that is not just healing me but also, since we are all connected, people are going to be connected to it too. There’s always an emotional connection to art. That’s why we are here to create. That’s our purpose. Create other life, create art, [and constantly heal].” — Nychos [0:26:54]
Key Points From This Nychos Episode:
- Nychos sets the scene for the exhibition, which comprises over 100 artworks.
- Insight into the exhibition title and how Nychos’ artistic expression has evolved.
- How injury, illness, and pain informed his stylistic transition from dissection to translucence.
- His move from San Fransisco to LA, where he found a studio and eventually put down roots.
- What led him to experiment with psychedelics when he couldn’t find the source of his illness.
- Nychos describes the experience he had on 5-MeO-DMT or ‘toad medicine’, which allowed him to understand energy, trauma, rebirth, and healing.
- The transformative power of meditation and tai chi and why Nychos says he felt like a “young puppy in a new world.”
- The language of his paintings and how they illustrate his personal spiritual awakening.
- Understanding that channeling his trauma through his work was the key to healing himself.
- The importance of accepting responsibility for your own health, happiness, and wellbeing.
- Insight into Nychos’ cultural and religious background and the role that hunting plays.
- What he has come to understand about awareness and how we are all connected.
“[With] painting, it’s almost like you speak a language but you haven’t learned yet how to read it.” — @nychos [0:26:28]
“The artist who paints from his soul [is] a reflection of himself in the moment of time and space.” — @nychos [0:29:33]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
- Nychos — https://nychos.com/
- Nychos on Twitter — https://twitter.com/nychos
- Nychos on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/nychos/
- Nychos on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/deinonychos/
- Rabbit Eye Movement — https://rabbiteyemovement.at/
- The Awakening — https://www.theawakening222.com/
- The Awakening Exhibition Tour —
- ‘The Deepest Depths of the Burrow’ Documentary — https://youtu.be/ln54lV-vm94
- Endless Layers till Consciousness— https://mirusgallery.com/mirus-exhibitions/endless-layers-of-consciousness/
- Not Real Art — https://www.notrealart.com/
- Scott “Sourdough” Power — https://www.notarealartist.com/
“I don’t want to go into the details of what I [saw], but I have worked this experience of [5-MeO-DMT] into the show quite a lot. It was like I was gone for 10,000 years, and I knew that I went home.” — @nychos [0:19:22]