Thank you for opening this! Art is a way for me to organize my life to best receive my deep intelligence and guidance and then share it with the world...so this dumb little newsletter that I've been keeping since 2009 is like an altar where I place my prayers for world peace and the ongoing evolution of our loving cosmos. As Alex Grey adapted from the Mahayana Buddhists, "May the merit generated by this act benefit all sentient beings."
You know where to find me if you'd like to pass a message through the grate.
love
Michael
PS – I'm opening for Random Rab in Austin on March 30th. Hope you can make it!
New Paintings
(I now offer discounts or free prints, as well as extensive backstories for every new painting, to Patreon supporters. Here's the link if you'd like to learn more.)
"Dying To Know"
collaboration with Elliot Rogers & William Allan Ross
2017 • 36"x48" • acrylic paint on gallery-wrapped canvas
"Going Home"
2018 • 24"x36" • acrylic paint on gallery-wrapped canvas
painted live at Gem & Jam Festival 2018 (Tucson, AZ)
to the music of Earthcry (onstage), Emancipator, Big Wild, & STS9 (2x)
"Rainbow Worm"
2017 • 20"x20" • acrylic and oil paint on canvas
New Conversations
At last week's Body Hacking Conference, I joined somatic therapist Saj Razvi for a group discussion on MDMA-assisted and psychedelic psychotherapies, drawing on his successful clinical work with MAPS and the FDA to reschedule MDMA as a legal treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. We had an awesome chat about the protocols used in this study, the miraculous successes that they've seen with this new mode of healing, and why it is time for our society to make these medicines available to all of us. Read more and download the audio recording here.
For fellow nerds: I've posted THREE new conversations about Blade Runner 2049 and the future of humanity with acclaimed film scholars John David Ebert, Barry Vacker, and JF Martel. These will eventually be made available to everyone as Future Fossils Podcast episodes, but for now you can find them all on Patreon for $5.
We go deep on ancient myths and symbolism in the films, on whether love can make an android "real," on whether this film helps or hurts our cultural imagination of the future, and a lot more. It has been an honor to sit down with these three thinkers and I know that any sci-fi fan will dig these...
One of my favorite comedians, Shane Mauss, explains how we went so deep with psychedelics that he had to check himself into a mental ward. We talk about time travel, God discovering humanity, and more. One of the funniest and weirdest episodes of Future Fossils yet!
My old friend and badass truth warrior gonzo journalist Charles Shaw maps out the trauma engine that is modern civilization – and why it's so important that we fight for the right to heal ourselves.
This is the first of THREE HOURS of the show with Charles – if you would like to hear the rest of it before it's published, it's available to Patreon supporters at all levels here.
Easily in the top five sharpest people I have ever met, my graduate advisor and meta-disciplinary wizard Sean Esbjörn-Hargens talks about how to train multiple perspectives on the natural world as well as economics and the development of human organizations. If that sounds dry, prepare to be surprised by one of the most psychoactive knowledge paradigms you've ever met...
New Yoga Mats & More
I finally have yoga mats for eight of my paintings (one of which is not shown here), with more to come soon! This is now the cheapest way to get high-quality, large reproductions of my work – larger and less costly than the giclée canvas prints – good enough to hang on walls but durable enough to take whatever you can throw at them while kicking ass in yoga class.
Grab yours here. I make a rather small percentage of each sale but I'm just glad to have my art available like this. If you get one, please send me pictures of you rocking out with your new mat and I'll respond with something small and special for you...!
This will be the new destination for all of my digital art merchandise. More soon, but now there are already tons of items up for my most popular designs, on items you cannot get anywhere else.
I have more than 16 hours of my music available for your enjoyment up on Spotify...and nearly five times as much music, spanning more than ten years' of recordings, up on Bandcamp. It's all available for anything you care to spare, because my music is a gift and I would like for it to stay that way.
(You can, of course, subscribe: Bandcamp subscribers also get all of the audio that I release in any format you desire, including many many private press releases, and some heavy discounts on my paper prints, and public cred for being part of my small crew of badass fans.)
Select Upcoming Events
Here are some of the things I'm most excited about this spring. For my full schedule, visit my webpage – and if you want me in your neighborhood this year, give me a shout!
“True solitude is found in the wild places, where one is without human obligation. One’s inner voices become audible… In consequence, one responds more clearly to other lives.
