30 days totally blind: Bryan Lewis Saunders

“From time to time, I do these long drawings and life experiments where I focus on the senses, or things that can change my consciousness and increase my awareness. I’ll do experiments with drugs, sleep, temperature, torture or hearing… I try to channel these experiences while drawing.”Pushing his body and mind to the limit, Bryan Lewis Saunders' art creates a very personal and somewhat alternative demeanour of himself. Using what he calls ‘experiments’, he cultivates an original view of what’s around him. Forever finding new ways to reinvent the scope and boundaries of modern art. Throughout these gritty binges, he often uncovers things that many of us overlook, or take for granted.His latest experiment being staged blindness. It takes the ability to live an ordinary life with little to no physical impairment, turning it upside down and channelling the struggles by transferring them into one of his many sketch pads. To an unenlightened understanding of Bryan's work, this latest experiment ‘30 days of blindness’ may look exactly that: a man unable to see trying to draw. Simple and pretty meaningless… However, the circumstances behind why Bryan chooses this personal struggle isn't a simple question to ask, nor I imagine a simple question to answer. However, one thing that is clear-cut about this American, his knack for connecting with his audience in some of the rawest emotional forms... even if sometimes the narrative is unclear. It's taking this niche underground art form and projecting to a loyal fanbase.

"I've always dreamed of doing 30 days on a submarine and channel the experiences of confinement and cruising around the bottom of the ocean. I've also dreamed of doing an entire series on top of the world's highest mountains. One day I'm going to tape Sharpies to my fist and draw two daily self-portraits while skydiving. One while free falling, and another one once the parachute is released. That is likely my next feasible dream."What's special about the experiments Bryan undertakes is it's manifested under the name of art. It's hard to imagine jumping in head first and putting your body under such strain in such a way for little to no physical reward. It's a man so intertwined within the art world it's hard to imagine where else this style can go. I'm nervous for Bryan, in case one day he pushes himself too far or perhaps the experiments become too dangerous."The things people do apart from or in spite of compensation are often the most valuable." The Art Of Darkness: a documentary about Bryan Lewis Saunders' experiments is out now on Blu Ray https://youtu.be/0RoqIMtDACE  Read more:Bryan Lewis Saunders' near-death experience22 years of self-reflection: Bryan Lewis Saunders Find out more about Bryan Lewis Saunders:WebsiteArt Of DarknessFacebookInstagram