- Curatorial Rationale -

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Our dreams are the gateways to our subconsciousness. This art exhibition threads the themes of surrealism, false realities, and dream-like situations. What we see could be different to what is really there. Through contrasting colors, abstract space, and my own personal dreams, the stories of hallucinations and what they represent are explored. 

 

I envision presenting my artworks from the most surreal to the least surreal. In the least surreal section, these works explore false realities, as they could be glimpses of existence, but something is slightly off-putting and assures the viewer sees differently from what is there. Since my works vary in size, ordering them in a cohesive manner will be tricky. I wish for my audience to first view the most distilled versions of reality, then slowly work their way to the more “realistic” pieces. The triptych with works such as Newspaper People and 3:42am best encompass the surrealist attributes, while the larger artworks are the most life-like due to their composition and color. The extent to how real these pieces are are left to self-interpretation. 

 

The first section of my exhibition contains Mockery Monarchy and Insanity due to their surrealist qualities and largest sizes. Both artworks use bright colors and wavering lines to recite stories of the subconscious. Each piece also has a focal center with a background alluding to an event - the puppet on the stage being a sort of play, while the light and dark sky behind the pyramid suggests contradictions and coldness. From an aesthetic standpoint, placing works from largest to smallest will add a contrast of constricting space and a narrowing perspective of reality.   

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Due to size and composition, Serenity will be placed underneath, but near, the first two works. The smooth lines and vivid colors fit well next to the first section. However, this painting is slightly less surreal due to its composition: this beach scene could be reality, but the black specs in the sand and the fluid lines allude to a more dream-like stance. Serenity is also slightly smaller, so placing it underneath the first section will continue the tread of a shrinking mindset. 

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In the middle of my exhibition stands my sculpture, Prophecy. Although it is smaller than most of my artworks, its balance between reality and surrealism speak to its message and purpose. It fits perfectly as a middle ground because, although the paintings on the sides are clearly fantasy, the wedding box, ring, and warning the pictures allude to are all very real. Not all marriages end in happily ever after; this sculpture reveals the gamble and unspoken sides of committing yourself to someone else for life. 

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I kept changing where the first triptych (The 13th Floor, 3:42am, and Newspaper People) would be placed. At first, I considered placing the tryptic first due to its vast surrealist qualities - the names of the pieces alone give leeway to the weird, dream-like things occurring in each work. Bright colors and distilled sizes allude to subconscious ideals. However, the dimensions of the artworks are smaller than Mockery Monarchy and Insanity, so aesthetically the triptych would look better underneath this section. This also helps follow the idea of a shrinking reality. Furthermore, the worlds explored in the first tryptic could be real: the hallway is proportionally accurate to the focal point, the ocean and the sky are composed of practical colors, and even the newspaper people are proportional to the mountains in the background. The little, off-putting aspects, such as the small-scale moon and the distilled liquid on the carpet, reveal an undercoat of subconsciousness. 

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To end the exhibition, the small, digital media pieces will be placed underneath the tryptic. These works, Reflections, Your Mind, and Ways of Seeing pose the most realistic qualities than any other work in the exhibition because of the photos of everyday life composed in these works. From the men bike riding on the beach to the flowers blooming in an early afternoon light, the digital pieces utilize fragments of our daily lives but arrange them in a manner that appears surrealistic or dream-like.  

 

I hope that my audience is able to see the underlying themes of distilled realities and the vast boarders of our subconscious. They should be left with feelings of abstraction and wistfulness. I wish that the audience sees their dreams within the stories of mine.