ABOUT THE ORIGINAL
Pareidolius by Luke Brown , 2022 Acrylic on Canvas | 90 x 120cm
Pareidolius is a portrait of the Earth’s hidden intelligence made manifest — a being woven from river water, tree bark, mycelium, and starlight. Appearing in the liminal space between imagination and ecology, this many-armed guardian rises from a sacred gorge like a living bridge between worlds.
Each of its hands holds a mushroom, sparking with luminous filaments that resemble both lightning and mycelial threads. These branching signals echo the neural networks that underlie both the human brain and the forest floor, suggesting a shared architecture of consciousness. The figure becomes a conduit through which biological, spiritual, and cosmic information flows. He also holds in his many hands the sacred implements of tantric union: the Vajra and the Bell. These timeless symbols represent the convergence of method and wisdom, action and emptiness, lightning and stillness.
Crowning him is a radiant dodecahedral star-form emerging from a fractal mushroom canopy—symbol of revelation, insight, and the descending intelligence of the higher realms. Meanwhile, vast cloud-forms, shaped like ancestral faces, watch from above. Their presence hints at the phenomenon of pareidolia, suggesting that the natural world may be far more sentient and communicative than we typically perceive. His body is entwined with elemental energies and mycelial filaments, suggesting that his power is not separate from nature but sourced from its deepest, oldest layers. The landscape around him teems with pareidolic faces—ancestral watchers carved into stone, water, and wood—hinting that the forest itself recognizes him as its emissary
From the flowing waterfalls to the shimmering citrine crystal held at his core, the painting evokes a living ecosystem in conversation with itself. It invites viewers to consider the possibility that nature is not merely scenery but an active participant in human awakening — a vast and ancient teacher disguised in the forms of forest and flowing water.
