Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Torin Craig

Glorious Visions of our Psychedelic Socialist Future

This body of work uses oil on panel as a means to explore the idea of the “transcendent experience” and its socio-political ramifications. I combine abstract intuitive painting with a process of digital collage and projection to achieve my results, with a strong focus on spontaneity, luminosity and direct expression in my material process. The abstract space inhabited by the figures is a translation of the ecstasy state (known alternatively as the divine, the mystic, love, the ‘flow’ state, the psychedelic, the orgasm), with the figures emerging representing the impact such a state inherently has on one’s cultural conditioning. These figures are collaged from various online images into a satire of the modern consumer-capitalist-colonial world. It is the direct experience of these pure states of life that results in one’s worldview changing – the social/cultural norms of our society are disrupted and questioned, and progress can be made.Individual Work Titles (Left to Right):Life’s Soft Deception.Pink Flamingo Nostalgia-Fuck.dose yr. politicians.