The Smoker 

Stay High 149, whose name echoes with a Dionysian spirit, created this black and white image of a figure engulfed by his brand. Here, the halo above the smoker’s head is not divine, yet it still signifies a state of altered consciousness, a gateway to another realm. We might think of depictions of saints with halos, and the way that artists throughout time and space have attempted to visualize the intangible idea of enlightenment. The halo in religious art signals spiritual transcendence, while here it marks a different kind of elevation. Even the act of exhaling smoke can be seen as a modern, secular ritual. The way that Stay High 149 has rendered his own name in a repetitive motion surrounding the human figure evokes the idea of branding, marking one’s territory, but also a kind of self-imposed enclosure or addiction. The figure exists in a field of markings, not unlike the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, whose sacred letters themselves held power. This symbol resurfaces, evolves, and takes on new meanings in different contexts, revealing how the human subconscious is drawn to find new meaning in existing motifs.