Colonization of the Dreamworld 2009
In this series of paintings the interplay of the conscious and subconscious is painted into the folds of sheets and the shapes of pillows. Images, symbols and words surface in lush layers of form, color and texture. In art history, the rendering of drapery has represented different meaning in every era. In this contemporary context, it refers to the obsessions and wanderings of our dreamworlds as they respond to the messages of our “lifeworld.” The folds of fabric are analogous to the bedsheets, landscapes of our imagination and topographies of our brain. Symbols are the language of dreams in which the rules of reality do not apply. Dreams, like art, are open to interpretation. Our rational minds are colonized by the mysteries of our subconscious as it processes the information we receive while awake. This work was inspired by the philosopher Jürgen Habermas and his concept of the “Colonization of the Lifeworld” where culture, meaning and value are colonized by the instrumental rationality of the modern marketplace system. In this sense what is irrational is subject to what might be falsely rational.
The folds of the sheets morph into mountains of gold in “Prime Rate”, animals in “Endangered” and the conflicted conversations we have in our deepest dreams “I Hate You/I Love You” .
Solo show 2009:
Togōnon Gallery
77 Geary, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA
