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Brian Blomerth's Bicycle Day, a mind-bending book recounting the world's first ever acid trip

The artist's new book brings Albert Hofmann's first acid trip to life with vivid art, whimsical characters, and meticulously researched history.

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Colourful illustration from Brian Blomerth's Bicycle Day showing a profile of a head with a pink brain and surreal imagery inside, alongside a vibrant abstract panel with a colour palette and whimsical characters

In his debut graphic novel, Bicycle Day, Brooklyn illustrator Brian Blomerth takes us on a mind-bending journey recounting the events of 19 April 1943 when Swiss "mystic chemist" Albert Hofmann intentionally ingested an experimental dose of the new compound known as 'lysergic acid diethylamide' and embarked on the world's first-ever acid trip.

Combining the extraordinary true story of the discovery of LSD with the artist's own whimsically gritty and timeless comic style, the book offers a charming Technicolor adventure filled with painstakingly researched tidbits of information and the artist's signature hybrid dog and human characters narrating every page. Blomerth even teases references to diary entries from Hofmann, his colleagues, and family—which are accurate down to the chemist's lunches and preference for milk.

Renowned for combining classic underground art styles with irreverent, witty visuals, Blomerth has developed a cult following for his zines, comics, band posters and album covers. This new book, published by Anthology Editions, will be released with a foreword from the American ethnopharmacologist and author Dennis McKenna.

In Bicycle Day, Blomerth guides us through the story of Hofmann's discovery, winding through time, with locations incorporating almost recognisable Disney-like characters in collage, digital overlays and hand-drawn pen on paper.

His work is evocative of manga artist Suihō Tagawa, drawing inspiration from half-forgotten children's books and illustrators like Richard Scarry and Carl Barks. Blomerth is fascinated by Scarry and Barks' imagined foreign lands, as illustrated in their children's books, that offer overly idyllic and strange locations. Through his illustrations, Blomerth considers these worlds of children's books and their link not only to the development of the psyche but its expansion as well.

Published by Anthology Editions, Brian Blomerth's Bicycle Day will be released in June.

Whimsical illustration featuring a cyclist riding through a surreal mountain landscape with a welcome sign to Sandoz, flying creatures, and hybrid human-animal characters in a retro comic style
Two colourful illustrated hands filled with whimsical objects including clocks, plants, books, candlesticks, and hybrid dog-human characters in Brian Blomerth's distinctive art style
Two pages from Brian Blomerth's Bicycle Day graphic novel showing whimsical hybrid characters in a laboratory setting with colourful experimental equipment and a "Yodelayheehoo!" exclamation.
Vibrant psychedelic illustration with bright pink and green text reading "Bicycle Day" featuring whimsical hybrid characters on a gingham background with figures riding bicycles below
Illustration from Bicycle Day showing a winding road shaped like a bicycle with colourful psychedelic characters and landscapes filling the right side, while a small figure on a bicycle descends the left curve
Colourful surreal scene with vibrant pink, green, yellow and blue creatures and monsters on a black and white checkered floor, illustrating a psychedelic vision from Brian Blomerth's Bicycle Day graphic novel
Colourful illustration from Bicycle Day showing figures on bicycles navigating through a psychedelic landscape of intertwining, patterned shapes in vibrant pink, yellow, turquoise and green hues
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