Rotten Chakras

This piece is a raw snapshot of what happens when your energy centers rot from the inside out. Each figure is a chakra gone crooked. The heart is twisted, the crown clouded, the solar plexus hiding behind a clown mask. It’s messy, distorted, uncomfortable—and that’s the point. Even in decay, they’re alive, still radiating. To me, it’s a reminder that healing isn’t clean or pretty—it’s rotten, awkward, and raw before it transforms.

I originally sketched this piece being inspired by Insane Clown Posse. I love being a clown, but at that time I was intrigued by the Juggalo world. I started with a charcoal sketch and loved it so much that I transferred it to a 16 by 20 canvas. The original sketch had one ghastly being at the top, but when I expanded it, I added three more. Then I realized there were seven, which naturally connected to the chakras. At the time, I felt unhealed and rotten, but also fixable. This piece became a representation of the rotten parts of ourselves and the aspects of our chakras that need attention.

I love the way I laid the colors in this painting and want to replicate it in future paintings. I knew each figure represented a chakra, so I went all in with the oil paint. I did not overthink it; I laid down colors instinctively. This was one of the first pieces where I truly felt like I channeled the work. I did not make the art—the art made itself.

I made it full mixed media by incorporating wire, sewing it into some characters, and attaching crystals that align with each chakra. The root has Apache tears, the sacral and solar plexus have tiger’s eye, the heart has aventurine as a nose ring, the throat has amazonite on its throat, and the third eye and crown have labradorite.

The heart chakra tries to gather everyone into alignment, holding onto the sacral and solar plexus. Meanwhile, the root walks ahead as if it is done and does not want to be there. The lower four represent the physical side, which is why they have bodies. The upper three are spiritual, which is why they are ghastly heads moving out of alignment. I also hid symbolic messages of abundance in the piece, like a red background with three yellow eights.