Kelsey Brookes | Serotonin; Happiness and Spiritual States: Quint Contemporary Art: 7547 Girard Avenue

Quint Contemporary Art (QCA) is very pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new work by San Diego based artist Kelsey Brookes. This is the second solo show of the artist’s work at QCA. The exhibition will open with a public reception on Saturday, November 10th, from 6 to 8 PM. The artist will be in attendance along with a surprise musical guest performance.

Coming from a background in molecular biology, Brookes’ newest series of work has taken his knowledge of scientific drawings and expanded them into candy colored and monochrome paintings that explore molecular structure. Presented here is a small portion of Brookes’ scientific abstract pertaining to the artworks:

Summary; A survey study of the psychedelic visual landscape and an interpretation of the molecular world of neurotransmitters that generate and mediate both native consciousness and psychedelic experience.

Methods; These Neurotransmitters are visualized through the effects they have on the Human Central Nervous System (CNS). By bending the molecules own effects back onto themselves and rendering their structure by way of their effects on the human visual system. I provide a visual interpretation of both exogenous and endogenous molecular structural diagrams (or molecular line diagrams). Each was chosen for its particular effect on the serotonin pathway and it's mediating effect on psychedelic experience. I replaced each atom with a single point that reverberates out into the field interacting with the other atoms in the molecule and resulting in a landscape of vibratory color. In addition these works are accompanied by a number of paintings that reference the peripheral experiences these molecules have on the CNS, especially visual perception.

“All together, it’s a lot like taking a bunch of hallucinogenic drugs and looking into an electron microscope, with out all the anxiety and mess”.

– Kelsey Brookes

Brookes has had recent solo exhibitions in Malibu, Los Angeles, London and Berlin. His work is currently being featured as the cover art for the Red Hot Chili Peppers newest record release. The artist has also teamed up for illustration work with the likes of RVCA, VANS, and Insight 51. Brookes has been featured in numerous pop culture and design publications such as GQ, Modern Painters, ARTnews, Playboy, Paper, Juxtapoz, Beautiful Decay, Dazed and Confused, RE:UP, and HUCK. Most recently Brookes was featured in the publication SKULL STYLE: Skulls in Contemporary Art and Design as well as GO WEST!: Cutting-edge creative in the United States.