Artist Statement

When I sleep I have very vivid and bizarre dreams. Sometimes they form a story, but mostly they are clips from a longer movie that I forget once I wake up, leaving these snapshots or segments in my mind. The feeling of falling asleep and into a dream feels like being pulled through a soft void, which is sometimes unsettling because of the lack of control. 

I use my illustrative style to depict what I saw or experienced in these dreams, and use my oil painting and textile techniques to create tactile objects that allow the viewer to interact with the piece. Muted colors and use of gray are how I emulate the darker or unnerving feelings of these dreams. I include different facets of them by emphasizing surreal spaces and anomalies in the environments. 

I use bubble-shaped creatures to represent myself and the figures from my dreams. These playful figures soften unsettling moments, and allow the audience to step into their shoes and experience the world. Using animal figures rather than human ones expands the possibilities of perception for the viewer.

These pieces of my dreams stick with me sometimes because they were really frightening or really weird, and those are what I like to represent in my work. I don’t know exactly why or what I am trying to say by sharing these images with the audience. I think the reason these snapshots stay in my mind is because they make me question, and by sharing this with others, I am sharing the question and inviting them to think about them too.