Paperblanks Journal ULTRA 7x9" FLEXIS Lined Soft DHARMA DRAGON Log Diary Write

• Original Art: “Dharma Dragon” digital artwork by Android Jones
• Era: Contemporary
• Region: United States

Ancient spiritual practices meet modern digital art in this kaleidoscopic cover featuring the work of Android Jones.

Born in Lyons, Colorado, Android Jones is an independent artist who began studying his craft at age eight before making it his life’s work in 2005. He took his early training at the Ringling School of Art and Design, where he learned traditional drawing and painting as well as animation, before interning at George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic. Jones later founded Massive Black, an artwork and asset outsourcing studio based in Los Angeles.

With colours at once psychedelic and hyper-modern, and imagery that combines Eastern iconography and a cutting-edge science fiction æsthetic, Jones is an artist who draws on old traditions and those yet to be born. A member of the Burning Man community, Jones is described as a “digital alchemist” and is renowned for his multidimensional, spiritually driven art and performances and the altered states of consciousness they evoke.

Whether one fancies him a shaman of pop art or a practitioner of electro-mineralism, at the centre of his art is a sense of untapped potential and limitless imagination. Says Jones in his Artist’s Statement on his website (androidjones.com):

“I have seen things in this life that I am incapable of translating into words. In my practice I have visited realms where the imagination ends, and the terrifying beauty of infinity unfolds over and over again. If I could distill into words exactly what motivates me to create the art that I make then it would not be worth making it. Instead I have the Pen. Honestly I don’t know why I make this art, or what compels me to keep creating it; it’s a mystery I intend to pursue for the rest of my life, and each image brings me closer to the Ultimate Truth.”

Jones’ art asks the viewer to focus on the potential for awakening, the power of the ancient third eye and the early reverberations of the time that lies before us. And that is exactly what called us to reproduce his art on our journal covers. We first discovered Jones’ work at the Shambhala Music Festival in our home province of British Columbia, Canada, and are so pleased to have had the chance to collaborate with this cutting-edge artist.