The space we inhabit between dreams and waking life can often feel surreal. The rules of the physical world can be broken, disbelief set aside, and tricks of the mind performed with ease. While entering consciousness, we may ask ourselves, “Was it all a dream?” Even our waking lives can prove to be as chaotic and disorienting as this dream-state. In this exhibition three artists address the sensation of existing in a dreamlike state as it relates to their personal experiences and the world at large.
Roxana Alger Geffen calls upon the chaos of domestic life in her installations and wall constructions, using textiles and found objects. Her work is both a humorous celebration and an uncanny manifestation of every day life as a mother. Rives Wiley’s purely two-dimensional paintings evoke a disorienting sense of unease in architectural space. The figures in these works are trapped, but unaware that they exist only partially or may never be able to escape the confines of the canvas. Dave Eassa’s thickly painted pink figures engaging in various activities read as cartoonish, yet represent the deeper identities of the psyche. The figures are navigating not only the physical world, but also the emotional content of the self.
Each artist addresses the absurdity of the social, political, and societal constructs that exist in the real world, in dreams, and somewhere in between.