Bryan Lewis Saunders Archieven

LP
Print by Bryan Lewis Saunders.
Signed by Bryan Lewis Saunders
Numbered edition of 50 ex.
d’or032
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One of my goals has always been to confront the human condition and become more engaged with my experiences. By experimenting with behaviors, environments and my senses I hope to simultaneously increase my sensitivity while expanding ideas about drawing, art and life. “The Blind Month Vinyls” document the 30 days I spent living in total darkness. I had drawn daily-self-portraits before while blindfolded, and with my eyes closed and in total darkness, but for this experiment I spent the entire month from January 6th to February 4th, 2018 totally blind. This record is an attempt to present fragments of what it was like for me. While I was blind I could no longer keep a written journal so all of my journaling had to be done on audio cassette tapes but as time went on and especially towards the end of the experiment a lot of the journaling turned into recording and documenting things that were happening in the moment instead of recording my reflections upon them. I began using the tape recorder to capture the moments as they happened instead of verbally describing them afterwards. The experience of being totally blind was a real challenge and yet it was one that I thoroughly enjoyed in part because I have such good friends. I really didn’t want this experiment to end. – Bryan L. Saunders

Special thanks to: Christopher Fleeger, Lisa Moss, Brant Withers, Aaron Kelly, Marcus Durham, Megan Christian, Zoë Dosher, Joey Salyer, Stacie Williams, Matt Volrath, Scott and Vivian and the entire Rader family, Russell Hughes, Becca Addison, Mahto Browder, Nicole Bailey, Liz Layton, Brad Ward, Zachary Jones, Tyler Cairnes, Patrik Dougherty, Ken Montgomery, and Rebecca Steele. Without you I would have suffered profoundly.

Side A:

Walking in the Woods (Unassisted)
Trip to the Mailbox
Note Taking / Journaling
Mid City Grill – Extrapolated
Car Ride
Echolocation Grunting
Pencil Tapping / Amplified Drawing
Mid City Grill – Interpolated
Walmart Walkthrough

Vocals and Voices, Christopher Fleeger and Elizabeth Messick (Mezzo-soprano) / Bryan L. Saunders, Lisa Moss, Aaron Kelly

Side B:

Replacing the Microwave Plate
At the Movies with Matt and Stacie
Brant Phone Call
Chattanooga Bathroom Walk
Eating Soup
Ass Washcloth
Roofers with Trumpet
Kalm Restaurant
Marcus and Meagan Read the Mail
Russell SIRI
Following Sarah
Snow Walk with Lisa
Stacie SIRI
Day Room Puzzles “Scratch Song”

Audio Recordings by Bryan L. Saunders

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Bryan Lewis Saunders ~ The Blind Month Vinyls
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Artwork Description: One of a kind original archival Print made of the Drawings created by Bryan Lewis Saunders while totally blind.

LP
Acrilyc Paintings by Bryan Lewis Saunders.
Signed by the Artist
Edition of 25 ex.
d’or010
Date of Release: 24 June 2018.

The Deaf Month Vinyls is a Collection of Recordings done by Bryan Lewis Saunders during his Month long Experiment of External Ear Blocking in 2011.

“The Third Ear Experiment, produced by Brant Withers, was an attempt to connect my eustachian tubes to my pineal gland by physically rerouting the way in which sound entered my body. For 28 days straight, from October 25th to November 21st 2011, I blocked up my external ears and attached a copper funnel to my mouth and set out to see and hear what would happen. The experiment was both extremely torturous and meditative. Each day gave birth to a multitude of new ideas of which I was unable to document thoroughly. The act of documentation itself was often a hindrance to the experience so I made quick notes and as many sketches and paintings as possible for future illustration and investigation and I could easily spend the rest of my life in doing so.” (BLS, 19 September 2012)

“I didn’t even know I was going to swallow anything, or have problems swallowing anything when a human arm appeared from another dimension. Not a cloud or “thin air”. I saw where it came from and where it went back to. Anyway, it grabbed me by the Adam’s apple and started tugging on it up and down. I thought it was trying to kill me, so I twisted my body and tried to turn my head away from it when a Vicks lozenge popped down my throat. The human arm then disappeared back behind this plane of geometry we can’t see. It saved my life. At least it thinks it did. There is a higher power for goodness. A spiritual strong arm of safety. I saw it and I felt it and it left one little mark. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have bruises.” (BLS, 13 November 2011)

Literal Silence (Side A, Track 2)
“I am now experiencing “Literal Silence”, for the first time ever in my life. The shape of it inside my skull is growing. If I don’t move a single muscle and sit or lay perfectly still, I experience silence. I can hear my heartbeat at times and I can also hear the tension in my neck muscles when I move. It’s beautiful. The world can be a very quiet and peaceful place. But my mouth hurts like shit.”
(BLS, 26 October 2011)

Bike Breath Balance (Side A, Track 7)
“My first bike ride to test my equilibrium. I hear a low hum inside my silence and I am breathing pretty hard. I feel like I’m moving two pedals forward and less than a half a pedal back at first, until I get in the groove of it. There is a copper screen inside the funnel to catch bugs with and prevent foreign objects from flying in.”
(BLS, 27 October 2011)

Third Ear Phone Call (Side A, Track 9)
“I’ve made one phone call to Nicole and tried to talk through my third ear. She was upset for several reasons as you can imagine. I recorded the conversation without telling her, and she has since allowed me to put it up.”
(BLS, 28 October 2011)

More Information on the Third Ear Experiment: Bryan Lewis Saunders Website

Bryan Lewis Saunders is an American Artist who works in a broad Array of Art Disciplines among which are Visual Art, Spoken Word and Art Performance. The Experiential Element is a crucial Factor in all his Works. He’s been making Self Portraits on Paper for each day since 30 March 1995. Since 2006 BLS has documented his dreams off / on for each day through Audio Recordings. In 2011 BLS underwent a Self induced Experiment in which he ingested different Types of Mind altering Substances for 11 Days and ‘documented’ each Day in a Series of Drawings. In 2014 BLS and John Duncan collaborated on a Performance titled Under the Influence of Torture in which BLS was tortured on Stage by JD with electrical Shocks and other Torturous Treatments.
In 2014 Bryan Lewis Saunders was portrayed in the Documentaries Art of Darkness by David Parker and Self Portrait Portrait by James Hollenbaugh

An interview with BLS about the Deaf Month Vinyls: https://artfully2017.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/bryan-lewis-saunders-deaf/

A1 Stage 1_Aural Eigengrau	01:59
A2 Stage 2_Literal Silence	01:59
A3 Stage 3_Purgatory	02:00
A4 Stage 4_ Elements of Sound	02:00
A5 (Silence)	01:00
A6 Document 5_Saliva Sucking	01:00
A7 Document 6_Bike Breath Balance	0:52
A8 Document 11_Glans-Brain	02:00
A9 Document 7_Third Ear Phone Call	05:08
B1 Document 9_Bellflower Speaks	04:00
B2 Birth of the Otic Vesicle	12:04