Alexander Sylvester…An Ooze of Psychedelia
For many of us, creative expression is a way to explore and process the things that affect our lives and can help us understand our reactions to them. Not that creative expression can supply all the answers, but it gives us a way to materialize our thoughts and emotions so that we can at least take a closer look from a different perspective. Alex Sylvester’s creations are an example of these expressions. Reaching deep into the pool of the human psyche and extracting the complex nature of our experience dripping in an ooze of psychedelia, Alex’s creations work to express and inspire the individual’s introspective journey
Alex is a Washington-based artist with creative experience in various mediums, and he originally started his creative focus as a filmmaker.
From filmmaking, Alex began exploring other forms of contemplative articulation through photography with digital manipulation, as well as drawing in the traditional mediums of ink and colored pencil. Beyond the internal exploration of the psyche, Alex draws inspiration from a wide array of music and contemporary visual artists.Understanding Alex’s favorite quote gives his audience perspective as to how he approaches his work:
“I’m human, I only understand relative truth. Only God knows absolute truth. My understanding of truth shifts day to day, and my commitment must be to truth not to consistency.” - Ram Dass
“I think even before I heard this quote, I’ve always felt this way fundamentally in my core, which has no doubt shaped my trajectory when creating art and exploring mediums and modes of expression,” Alex says. “My transition to drawing from a decade of primarily focusing on filmmaking came from a moment of truth and honesty within myself, of where I wanted to focus my time and energy and how that informs my creative output and overall happiness.”
Alex feels a connection not just to his work but also to the process and says, “I’m someone who spends a lot of time in his own head, poking and prodding at my thoughts, emotions, and the space between.” Because of this, Alex turned to creative expression to process his thoughts and emotions, and he says in recent years, drawing has been his primary form of creativity and exploration.
“I’ve really begun to delve into a stream-of-consciousness-like approach and allowing ideas to sort of spill out until they can mature and be fully realized,” he says. “I’m also a big fan of experimentation and pushing boundaries, which is what led me on this path in the first place.”
Alex’s work creates juicy, vibrant images that evoke emotion and mood, and their impacts translate deep ideas and feelings. A psychedelic crow melts into paper, luscious mushrooms entice reflection, and seeing eyes bloom from thorny vines that intertwine with the cosmic mystery. Both beautiful and thought-provoking, his pieces are saturated in a spectrum of color and often tell a story written by the process itself and left to the observer to discover on their own. Trusting the process of experimentation and pushing creative boundaries is what led Alex to explore creative expression, and the results of his approach are visually gratifying. “Ultimately, through my own personal journey and experiences, I hope to connect to other people in a way that may be as healing as it was for myself when creating the art in the first place.”
