Psychedelic art was born in the 1960s, swirling with kaleidoscopic colour, warped geometry, and hallucinatory imagery. But beneath its neon surface, was a deeper response to a world in crisis. It was the aesthetic arm of a counterculture that challenged authority, celebrated collective consciousness, and rejected the rigidity of modern life. It reflected a cultural moment when turning inward and altering perceptions became a form of rebellion towards state violence, war, and conformity, evolving into a language of disobedience — one that questioned reality and treated imagination as a political act.
This was art born from altered states, but it was deeply rooted in a social and political desire to transcend borders — of the mind, state, and the self. It imagined a world where identities that we hold on to so dearly became fluid, obsolete even. After all, when you’ve seen yourself as a one-eyed, seven-legged monster hurtling through space, it becomes difficult to be bogged down by social constructs like gender, race, or class, that are so often weaponized to divide us. Beneath that hippy-dippy, trippy stuff, it was radically unifying.
Today the same spirit stands for freedom of expression. The visual experiments of a new generation continue to resist homogeneity and limiting narratives. Through distortion, disruption, excess, emotion, and surreal humour, they carve out space for alternate ways of seeing, feeling, and being. Here are 6 homegrown artists who bring their own visions to the psychedelic canon:
Prateek Dhiman creates dense, vividly coloured illustrations that merge psychedelic imagery with elements of nature. His compositions are packed with intricate details, wacky characters, and elaborate sceneries influenced by Japanese aesthetics. With his recent 3D experiments in character design, the artist is also expanding into more sculptural territories.
Follow him here.
Azra J is a self-taught artist whose psychedelic and surreal drawings are rooted in the exploration of inner worlds. Her use of dark, muted colours lends her work a distinctly metal aesthetic that's brooding, intense, and almost mythic. Often set apart from her immediate social context, her illustrations depict the human psyche with a visually enigmatic and ritualistic undertone.
Follow her here.
Akhil Thampuran is an industrial designer and illustrator from Kozhikode whose art spans astral hallucinatory visions. His palette bursts with neon and bold hues, conjuring immersive, otherworldly experiences. Similarly, his compositions layer intricate lines and dense motifs to evoke hidden dimensions like vivid, forested realms or trance-like encounters where tribal ritual and psychedelia meet.
Follow him here.
Tanmoy Kayesen’s work operates at the threshold between reality and internal fiction. His finely detailed, ink-based drawings function as visceral subconscious cartographies that are emotionally driven. With sharp and dense textures that echo the anatomical and the abstract, his images seem to be extracted from beneath the skin itself; a record of psychic residue, unfiltered by logic and shaped entirely by sensation.
Follow him here.
Ishita Thawait’s work plays with the distortion of form, context, and meaning to reframe how we look at the ordinary. Her visual language is loud, surreal, and often laced with humour, using melting colours and exaggerated characters to explore themes around gender, body image, and power. Women appear across her work in strange, fluid forms that challenge both gaze and expectation.
Follow her here.
Jaden Thomas draws on a deep fascination with nature and imagined evolution, creating reptilian and humanoid creatures that feel both ancient and alien. His comic-like illustrations depict beings that seem to have emerged from some body of speculative biology — they're fluid, visceral, and strange. With an eye for detail and a strong narrative undercurrent, his work often feels like a window into a sci-fi world where the laws of life have taken a different turn.
Follow him here.
If you enjoyed reading this here's more from Homegrown:
Redefining Reality: The Creative Chaos Of 4 Homegrown 3D Artists
Explore Desire, Connection, & Fantasy With 3 Exceptional Homegrown Sculpture Artists
5 Homegrown Creatives Who Are Using Their Art To Spotlight Modern Climate Emergencies