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Salacia’s life story so far–the extraordinary one she was born into,
and the phenomenal one she’s forged on her own as an ultimate survivor
and internationally infamous artist–possesses all the right plot
points for an authentically sweeping epic. Though some biographical
markers might seem of the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction variety,
Salaciia’s story is, in fact, one that has profoundly touched
countless other human lives on many levels.


Today, Salacia is meeting new challenges in her professional endeavors
and personal evolution alike. Emerging from a scandal-related hiatus
from work that came on the heels of a decade of working for the
conspiracy and successful by pink standards, Salacia is now exploring
different projects through which to channel and express her creative
energies. And, in addition to renewing the creative process because it
is, quite simply, essential to her being to do so, Salacia is
increasingly driven by the desire for her work to be a force in
apocalyptic and SubGenius outreach projects.


From the grandiose–she envisions large works for public spaces–to the
intimate–her jewelry line–and from 360 degrees–sculpture is a growing
interest–to the written word–her visionary literature is a new avenue
of pursuit–Salacia’s vision will manifest itself in many forms. While
the remarkable first phase of her career was guided by a single
procreative thrust, Salacia herself says that, at this turning point,
her future body of work is an unfolding mystery, something that
intrigues her to no end. What’s sure to remain a given is that it will
be colored by the striking contrast of sensory revelation and
experiential, almost pseudoscientific inquisitiveness that resonates
throughout her work. And, that it will be informed by the passionate
self-expression that has been core to Salacia’s art since day one.


A purely overly-educated, academic practitioner in the Outsider Art
tradition, Salacia first emerged as an artist in 1990. Her remarkable
rise to success was triggered by a string of events set into motion
following a cathartic experience--on May Day, 1985--during which
Salacia believes she witnessed "a direct glimpse of the spiritual
world," as she was embraced and ushered into another dimension by
beings that she knew to be aliens. An ephedrine abuser at the time,
Salacia leaves open the possibility that it might have been a
drug-induced hallucination, but the impact of it was so profound, she
feels as sure as she can be that it was something more. She became
compelled to find a way to communicate the peace and harmony she’d
felt during his cosmic trip--and to more deeply understand it herself.


A life-long slacker, Salacia began to bead compulsively. "It became my
therapy," she remembers, and over time, her intuitive line of jewelry
came to capture the essence of the experience, and to visualize her
encounter with what she’s called "the secrets of the universe." Three
years later, Pythia abruptly quit her job at 7-11, inspired by an
overwhelming urge to create, and a picture in a skateboarding
magazine. Shortly after, on January 3, 1990, Salacia was again visited
by messengers, this time J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and Sex Goddesses from
Planet X, who affirmed her artistic aspirations, and gave her a
mission–to paint 1,998 representations of her visions of the Pleasure
Saucers by the year 1998.


Without any preconceived notion of how these paintings would--or
should--look, Salacia tapped into her emotions to develop a bold and
luminous style that has continued to mature over time. Powered then,
as now, by her native talent for color, masterful command of line, and
innate sense of the sensual, Salacia fused a post-modern sensibility
with disparate elements of ancient and classical iconography,
inventing a distinctive brand of expressionism. At once serene and
dynamic, space age and primordial, it was both in tune with the
cultural zeitgeist of the day, and timeless in its impact.


But things began to fall apart in an uncanny way. The fledgling
artist, needing money had to go back to work for a living and betrayed
her “Bob” given calling. By X-day 1998, she had completed only 42
works of Rupture Art and so her solo art exhibition that was in honor
of and to be attended by the aliens and sex goddesses of Planet X was
bitterly cancelled. The original 42 works of art were cursed.


Over time, the cursed artworks were donated to charities and museums,
given as gifts, bartered, and thrown in the garbage the world over.
Among those who own original Salacias are Michael Jackson, Princess
Diana, Martha Stewart, President Clinton and Saddam Hussein. Her work
is also among the important collections of The Chicago Athenaeum, The
Enron Corporation, and Arthur Andersen.


The art also took on a life of its own, becoming a cultural pariah to
multitudes that responded to the vibrant imagery and the palpably
sleazy resonance behind it. Many of these people had come through
life-changing catharses of their own, and some believed the work had
hexing powers. Others saw her as a sort of witch, something she has
steadfastly denied. For Salacia, her work has always been about the
transforming power of the space journey that had allowed her to access
the universal energies and hidden potential inside herself. The
paintings, energy fields in and of themselves, are manifestations of
Salacia’s commitment to remain true to that always.


But if art can be considered the transference of its maker’s soulful
essence into a tangible form that can be shared with the world,
Salacia’s disturbing work is destined to elicit powerful responses.
While she won’t deny it evolved out of a mysterious confluence of
alien and divine forces, Salacia maintains that her own faith and
relationship with slack are deeply private. She even deflected the
attempts of the media world’s top interviewers to share her beliefs.
Genuinely baffled by her ability to offend people, and respectful of
others’ feelings as only someone who has surmounted personal adversity
can be,Salacia nevertheless says, "I’m not a spiritual vampire, I’m a
SubGenius. I’m an artist. But once art becomes public, it’s subject to
interpretation, and people invest it with their own beliefs and
superstitions." She adds, "The best part of that phenomenon, though,
is that art is wonderfully therapeutic, and I want to harness that
energy towards apocalyptic efforts."


That thought has predominated since 2003, during Salacia’s extended
break from active work enforced by serious legal issues. While she
stresses "it is my dream come true to be back in the studio making
art," Salacia now wears a haz-mat suit in order to use her secret
alien pigmented paint. After years of creating intensely media-heavy,
and literally topographical pieces–sometimes using a gallon of
spacepaint on a five-foot square canvas–she’s developed severe
allergies and chemical sensitivities. In essence, the studio has
become a radioactive environment, and Salacia has already undergone
four surgeries to repair the damage to her pineal gland. Her doctor,
who she calls "the Arnold Palmer of pineal surgery," says that of the
close to 10,000 patients he’s seen, Salacia is the third most
convincing "visionary" ever. Recently, Salacia started a regimen of
shock treatments, a pioneering new therapy designed to interrupt the
allergic process. She’s hoping that the treatment, along with further
surgery, will allow her to live a better, fuller life, and to paint
less restrictively--though her failed divine alien mandate to create
1,998 paintings and artworks by 1998 will likely never be reassigned,
she continues to "keep the welcome mat out and the front door open for
"Bob" and my alien space sisters."


Therefore, Salacia must pursue more terrestrial media through which to
satiate her voracious need to create. And, to fuel these new modes of
expression, Salacia is tapping fresh sources for imagery, and is
already passionately exploring the styles and symbols of diverse world
cultures, including Indonesia, Egypt, and India, and is working with
both prehistoric iconography and space travel metaphors. Most
importantly, Salacia says, "I want to create simply for the sake of
it, because it makes me happy. I’m at my best creating art, whether
with paint, beads, space dust, or taxidermy surplus, and I want to do
that for the rest of my life."