marlo lavonne johnson

marlo lavonne johnson

author, artist, guide to radical wealth

Enigma 002.

I’ve been exploring and researching the CryptoArt community for the last several weeks. Just like the physical art world, this new space is very complex and comes with challenges and risks, and should be approached with great care and mindfulness. But overall, I believe it’s an extremely important development for creators, humankind, and even the environment.

I personally feel strongly called to advocate for and support artists in this space, and to continue to deepen my understanding and involvement so I can help shape its future. There is already a ton of positive momentum and things are changing and improving very rapidly. I don’t feel like I can just wait and see at this point.

If you have any concerns, please do your own research before letting some random opinion influence you. I think this movement will be extremely significant in shaping humanity’s future, and it’s worth being aware of despite some of the pushback—radical solutions always face resistance.

It’s also worth applying the same level of scrutiny to our preexisting habits and systems, which may be more problematic than you think.

I’m putting a self-portrait here because so many artists have felt the need to join the CryptoArt movement anonymously to avoid hate from their fans, and I’d like to show my support publicly despite the risks and judgement.

The problems that the artists are now bringing to light existed before CryptoArt, and many of them apply to the physical art market too. Please be humane, and don’t become a salty hater because of someone else’s bias or ill-informed opinion.

Seek a deeper understanding, and if you’re concerned about any of the underlying issues of the movement let’s address them together, and actually focus on solutions. If a certain issue is really important to you, you may even want to look into the solutions that *already exist* and support their growth.

It’s a great time to reflect on whether you are living in a wee little box (any box smaller than the whole entire universe is too small for you), or as your true fucking feral self.

Let go of any reservedness, pretence, arrogance, fear, and inhibition. Be wild and free. You have more power than you understand, but you must liberate yourself to remember it.

Just know this: if it is not guided from within, by love, it is not free. If it is rebellious, if it fights against what is, it is not free. If it is dictated by your ego, it is not free.

Simply live in the highest truth you can find and let it be loud.

You may have seen on my IG or Twitter, but I’ve been working on a new beaded painting. This one is 8x8 inches and will likely take well over 100 hours to finish.

I was making striped paintings for awhile in my 20s, but stopped after I found the work of Agnes Martin. I felt like she had already achieved what I was looking for, and I felt content with that.

Several years later I revisited stripes because they were the most accurate way to communicate my intentions at the time. These new intentions for the work created the layered process you can see above—and, consequently, an interesting aesthetic that felt unique enough to be worth exploring.

Later, I was finally able to see some of Agnes’ work in person. Despite their similarities from afar, our paintings are quite different up close. While the screenprints that reignited her art practice—On a Clear Day, 1973—are almost unbelievably perfect, her paintings later could be considered quite flawed—full of flecks of dried gesso, misaligned pencil marks, and other imperfections. But that was an integral part of her message. The work wasn’t perfect in the worldly sense, but was about the choice to create a perfect state of being regardless—while both creating or observing art, or anything else.

I see this as a form of great compassion, of enlightened being, and a very beautiful thing to express.

Hi All,

I’m a Canadian artist, author, and creativity consultant. I’ve been called an “artist whisperer” but my work is more about life than art, and I can work with anyone.

My philosophy is about building holistic abundance outside of “the system” through compassion-based creativity, for the purpose of maximum joy and freedom for all. I believe that creativity is our natural state, and it should be used for all aspects of life, all jobs, all educational systems, all businesses, everything. We are not meant to conform. We are not meant to work ourselves into illness or depression just to keep the old economic and power structures going.

I always knew I was an artist, but spent too much of my life overwhelmed by negativity and trauma to access the inspiration or confidence needed. I operated on anxiety, just trying to survive.

It was my very cliché journey out of that dark place that informs my work now. I have an intimate understanding of the intense pain and depression of disconnectedness, but also of the fact that there are ways out into a life of profound inspiration and bliss. I also know how impossible and trite that can sound.

I learned my biggest lessons the hard way after a very severe health crash in my 20s that still affects me now. I was forced to give up my work and money-focused lifestyle, and I eventually surrendered to my real loves: deeper truth, higher creativity, and inspired service.

I rested and learned to prioritize my needs and inspiration, and that led to accidentally writing my first book (my second book was on purpose). These books are powerful, but they ask a lot. A complete creative awakening can mean disrupting your whole life.

My partner @jameswyper is a full-time working artist, who supported me through all my health flareups solely with his art, even while living on a small island in a big, dreamy oceanfront house, which also probably sounds impossible to some. We are just stubborn and use an effective philosophy.

My health is now quite a bit better, we love our lives and our work more than ever, and we recently bought a new home in the mountains, where we live with our dog (who is the best).

I always so badly want to give the relief and joy I find to everyone else who needs it too, but I know it doesn’t really work like that. I had to hit rock bottom to change direction, and I know most others do as well. I hope I can at least help a few people to find their bounce.

If you have any questions feel free to ask below! 🤍

We are settled enough into our new place that I’ve been thinking about starting another beaded painting soon. This prototype is only 6x6” yet took over 100 hrs, so it’s a bit of a commitment. I love spending that much time with a work of art though, slowly watching the vision come alive. When it’s done that experience is over.

Plus I do find the effect of several thousand beads pretty astounding. Each one of these was individually hand-stitched and meticulously adjusted so the thread isn’t visible. I did buy a luneville hook, which could speed things up, but I don’t yet know how to use it. I also love how the stitches on the back of the prototype look, so I’m not totally sure I even want to change techniques.

I’ve spent most of the last decade examining reality to better understand the problems we face. I couldn’t handle the pain of this world. I couldn’t believe the atrocities. And I wanted to do something about it all, but it was overwhelming. The current remedies didn’t feel good enough. So I searched for the deepest causes and most holistic solutions I could find.

Whether for my own personal problems, or those of the collective, I could only find one single recurring cause.

Here’s one way to explain it…

To be in your positive natural state (flow, alignment, unconditional love, inner peace, awakened, etc) is to be in tune with your inner being, satisfied from within, and radiating your inner beingness outward like a light. You are creative, powerful, inspired, confident, authentic, highly intuitive, and free from external influence.

To be in a negative state (fear, disconnection, lack, etc) is to be identified with the external, seeking to draw fulfillment from the physical world inward, like a vacuum. You are dissatisfied, reactive, uncertain, disempowered, easy to influence or exploit, and maybe even parasitic or controlling at times. This state is harmful to yourself and others.

All of the problems our world faces are due to the normalization of this negative polarity state and the resulting behaviour.

We are born positive, but are usually then taught to suppress it—to calm down, watch TV, ignore our inspiration, conform, seek material gain/worldly success, and submit to authority. We are traumatized by this and other life events, which creates further disconnection, and we don’t understand the consequence of the inner shift that’s taking place.

I used to live in a very dark and disconnected place. After I found a way out, I made it my life to help others do the same.

If we can collectively shift into a positive default polarity, everything will change. To overflow with inspiration and love becomes the norm. Loneliness and greed disappears. Toxic systems and structures will no longer function. We’ll no longer feel compelled to take from others or the earth to feed our lack. We’ll have no reason to compromise our values to get ahead. We’ll be content and free.

I realize it’s a big dream, but after coming to this conclusion I can’t choose another path. I hope you’ll give it some thought.

Further Reading: