Jonathan Saiz is a young American artist (b. 1983) who has spent the last few months working and residing on the island of Mykonos (poor man, how tough!) completing a series of these incredible large-scale oil paintings titled “ALKAHEST”.

“ALKAHEST” [ˈælkəˌhɛst] is “the hypothetical universal solvent sought by the alchemist”. In keeping with this definition, Jonathan’s paintings depict complex geometric crystalline shapes, with glimpses and reflections into another world. This is such an intriguing and mystical body of work – shifting particles and reflections of statues, stallions, birds in flights and ornate patterns are almost incoherent, yet somehow – when you stare at them long enough – everything starts to make perfect sense…