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January 17 through April 12, 2009
Pfundt Gallery, Doylestown
Sponsored by Mary Lou and Andrew Abruzzese, The Pineville Tavern
Dreams come in all shapes and sizes. From daydreams to nightmares,
images and stories fill our heads helping us to solve problems, explore
fantasies and unlock hidden feelings. In a lucid dream—also known as a
conscious dream—the dreamer is aware that he or she is dreaming, and
can consciously control characters and settings. This process of
"constructed visualization" is something that artists do by their very nature.
They consciously create new realities—they dream new worlds—and
through the act of giving their dreams physical form, they share their private
universes with us, the viewers. Lucid Dreaming focused not only on the
active construction of dreamlike imagery by contemporary artists, but also on
the body and the dominant role it often plays in dreams.
Artist Lindsay Pichaske's ceramic sculptures examine the effects of
obsession on the body, while Tina Newberry investigates the construction of
one's own identity by taking on different personas in her paintings.
The collaborative group Subcircle, through their dance films, explores
how the dislocation of space impacts one's understanding of the world.
Stacey Steers creates mixed media collages to use as stills for animations
which explore our constructed identity and social interactions.
Through careful blending of charcoal and erasure, Charlotte Schultz creates
dreamlike environments in which we can meditate on the influence of television
and computer screens on our everyday lives.
Meanwhile, the angles, space, reflections and light in Connie Imboden's
photographs uncover surreal images of the human body.
The artwork in this exhibit, like our dreams, included recurring elements,
unusual juxtapositions of familiar things, and narratives that skew both time and
space. But what does it mean? Just as when we wake from a dream, we try to analyze
the stories or the significant details we can recall. The dreams recounted in
Lucid Dreaming not only tell us about the artists themselves, but reveal
prevailing attitudes about the body and its place within contemporary culture.
A L S O S E E
Images, top left to bottom:
Lindsay Pichaske, The Taxidermist, 2007. Low-fire ceramic, underglaze, china paint.
24 x W. 34 x D. 5 inches. Private Collection, Asheville, NC...
Tina Newberry, Valley Girl, 2007. Oil on Board.
H. 10 x W. 15 inches. Courtesy of Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, DC...
Conceived and directed by Nicole and Jorge Cousineau, performed by Subcircle, Here, 2008.
Recorded dance performance. Running time: 26 minutes. Collection of Nicole Cousineau...
Stacey Steers, still from Phantom Canyon, 2006.
DVD transfer from 35mm film made from mixed media collage on paper.
Running time: 10 minutes. Collection of the Artist...
Charlotte Schulz, An insufficiency in our screens: we face our separation from an order
in the world and yearn for its wisdom to reach us. (detail), 2006.
Charcoal on paper. H. 29 x W. 77 inches. Collection of the Artist...
Connie Imboden, Untitled #5953, 1994. Gelatin silver print on paper.
H. 16 x W. 20 inches. Collection of the artist.
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