Acrylic
3/8" Plywood with a frame backing
48" x 72"
Acrylic on Plywood
The Neural Tempest Collection
surreal: Surreal, Visionary, Symbolic, Abstract
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This painting is a surreal excavation into the very center of one’s mind — a visionary cross-section of perception, memory, and higher awareness, suspended in a field of dreamlike purples and electric geometry.
At the heart of the composition is a massive, unblinking eye. Its iris is portrayed as a nucleus, with energetic electrons orbiting around it — a living portal of observation and consciousness. The eye floats within a radiant structure that spirals outward in fractured shards of light and color, like stained glass breaking through digital code. It represents more than vision — it’s about decoding, perceiving the hidden layers of reality.
Just below it sits a powerful starburst. But this is no ordinary star — its core has been shattered, dissected, and rearranged into a maze-like form. It resembles a neural network or a psychic labyrinth — a symbol of complexity, confusion, and awakening. Its rays slice outward — some clean and precise like mathematical vectors, others dripping and distorted like cracked glass. It feels like the core puzzle of the mind: beautiful, infinite, and slightly dangerous.
Beneath the star, a spiked black orb absorbs a flowing purple gradient — like a planet or a subconscious node inscribed with circuitry and unseen pathways. From the center, an electric teal agave bursts upward — part sacred plant, part digital code — tying the organic to the algorithmic, the ancient to the cosmic.
In the lower third of the piece, a digital drone-like sphere hovers in deep browns and blacks, while surreal teal tendrils unravel outward — like signals or thoughts being transmitted from the subconscious. The entire composition pulses with movement, like a living system — the mind in constant flux, spinning, processing, becoming.
This piece is called Crux for a reason — it marks the pivotal junction, the turning point, the essential core of perception. It’s where thought, memory, spirit, and data all collide — the mysterious star at the center of self.
Tags: Center of the Brain, All is Mind, Observation, Decoding, Starburst, Agave, Digital, Mind, Crux, Perception
I painted Crux during a raw and transformative chapter of my life— full of motion, mystery, and nonstop creation. I had my motorhome parked up in the mountains at my friend George’s place, on 8 acres of avocado and lime…with a view of the ocean I might add:) but I was spending so much time downtown in Santa Barbara that it felt like I lived in my best friend Bethany’s garage. That garage became my sanctuary — a chaotic little studio where ideas poured out of me daily. Some of my most intricate and ambitious pieces came out of that space, and Crux was one of them.
The beach was about a 10-minute walk away, and after painting through the night, I’d often head there in the early morning hours. Something about standing at the edge of the ocean after unraveling my mind onto canvas felt grounding — like rinsing off the dreamworld before starting the day. That rhythm — the dance between inner vision and nature’s quiet — is woven into the energy of this piece.
Crux represents the center of the mind…during this time in Santa Barbara I was diving deep into my mind and psyche as an artist and this piece is a reflection of parts of that journey. The fractured, maze-like star at the heart of the painting speaks to the complexity of thought, memory, imagination and awakening. It’s like a sacred compass that’s been shattered and reassembled. The orb below it, with its tendrils, and radiant structure feels like fragments of perception, planets of thought, or frequencies all orbiting some deeper awareness. All grounded with the image of the electric teal Agave plant. The chaotic center of the mind when life is swirling around you like a hurricane.
Santa Barbara was a huge catalyst for my art journey, and those days — drifting between George’s mountain hideaway and Bethany’s garage by the sea — helped shape the artist I’ve become. This piece holds the pulse of that strange, beautiful chapter: layered, searching, and very much alive.
