Immersive Art, Cheesecake and Why It Matters.

Steven Pinker once said the arts are like cheesecake—just a sweet, unnecessary by-product of evolution. It’s clever, but it’s never sat right with me. Art isn’t a decorative side-effect—it’s fundamental. It’s how we’ve always made sense of our lives, our world, and each other—long before we had the words for it.

That’s especially true in my own practice. I create immersive, often virtual experiences—VR paintings and 360-degree environments that don’t just invite viewers to look, but to feel. For many people, especially those who are neurodivergent or experiencing mental health challenges, these sensory-rich spaces can be a lifeline. They communicate in a way words often can’t. They can soothe, ground, and shift someone from anxious to calm.

I think of them as quiet sanctuaries—art that you step into rather than just look at.

What’s guiding my thinking right now:

Polyvagal Theory (Stephen Porges) – Our nervous systems respond to cues of safety or danger. Sensory cues—visuals, sound, rhythm—can help regulate our state.

Neuroaesthetics (Semir Zeki, Anjan Chatterjee) – Beauty is not fluff. It activates reward systems in the brain and affects how we feel and remember.

Embodied Cognition (Lakoff & Johnson) – Thinking happens through the body, not just the brain. Immersive art activates that connection.

Autistic Communication (Donna Williams, Temple Grandin) – For many of my students, art is a more natural language than speech.

Myth & Memory (Joseph Campbell, Walter Benjamin) – Humans have always used story, image, and symbol to store knowledge and meaning.

Carl Jung – Archetypes and symbolic imagery bypass logic and speak directly to the psyche.

How this shows up in my practice:

Works like Luds Church and Submerged explore layered meaning, drawing on myth, memory, and sensory presence. These pieces aren’t designed to be flashy—they’re created to invite reflection, presence, and emotional regulation.

In therapeutic spaces, I’ve seen how immersive environments can open up new pathways of expression—particularly for people who find verbal language hard to access. Sometimes it’s like visual breathwork. Sometimes it’s a moment of calm.

A few words that stay with me:

> “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton

“Beauty will save the world.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky

“The senses, being explorers of the world, open the way to knowledge.” – Maria Montessori

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle

“The body keeps the score.” – Bessel van der Kolk