On April 19th, 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann embarked on the world's first LSD trip. It was a day that changedeverything, forever – a day that, I would argue (and I'm not alone), saved us all from nuclear annihilation and/or 1000 years of suburbia. Believing that he had poisoned himself and was dying, Hofmann rode his bicycle home to die in bed...thus sealing the date to be celebrated each year as "Bicycle Day." On the 67th anniversary of that epic inaugural trip, Alex & Allyson Grey held a special event in the luminous SF nightclub Temple, complete with a brief history of the holiday and a panel on how the psychedelic experience has informed the work of various visionary artists.   Over a dozen of us live painters were in attendance to throw in on the celebration. It was a truly magical event – and the painting emerged from an unusually clear and complete vision that I sketched out during Alex's lecture. I was set up near the bathrooms (a wonderful place to be, if you like to catch traffic), and at the end of the night I caught Alex on his way out. He stopped to take this in – the first opportunity I've really had to share my work with him in person – and I explained to him how I'd bitten his "explosive bubbles, flaming eyeballs" style for this piece as an ode and homage. And then the legendary visionary artist Alex Grey called my painting "amazing."   So I have that going for me...   (This painting is dedicated to Albert, obviously. Thank you for channeling such a profound intelligence into our world...)

Painted live at Temple SF on 2010-04-19 for the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors Bicycle Day Benefit to the music of David Starfire, Haj, Satchi Om, DJ Dragonfly.  Original painting 16"x20", oil and acrylic markers on cradled gesso board. Animated in Motionleap for iPadOS.

• This is the one and only official NFT instance of this piece. *

Link to high-resolution scan of the original painting unlocked upon purchase, with license for personal non-commercial use. (© 2010 Michael Garfield)

Some proceeds from this sale will go toward carbon credits (in the form of new trees) to more than offset the costs of minting.

If you would prefer an open-series giclee canvas print: https://michaelgarfieldart.com/products/seed-of-awakening