1983:2006

Reflection:
1. the act of reflecting
2. the return of heat, light, images, etc. by a reflective surface
3. serious thought upon a subject
4. a thought occurring in consideration or meditation
5. Anat. the binding or folding back of a part on itself

Language exists with strange anomalies — words function with multiple meanings, each definition a warped reflection of each other — an example: in English, the word reflection folds back on itself into a mobius strip, the language transformed to physical anatomy,

the effect of holding a hand-mirror in front of another reflective surface, visual information bounced between the two sources, endless copies of each other, back and forth, lines echoing,

or an action of translating the past, copying journals over by hand, manuscripts of emotive states reflecting the present mood.

a self-reflection on reflection.

My point:

Other worlds exist.

But let's shift the emphasis, transforming the phrase from Other Worlds to dreamscape, establishing a different tilt to the subject altogether.

What results: we acknowledge a geography parallel to our reality, one with archaic symbols and icons, the secret language of early folk tales, their plots lingering in the global collective subconscious.

Regularly I sought out these territories during the winter of my personal identity crises, the year I turned 19. Often I walked into a collection of trees hoping to fall through the barriers between reality and fiction, peel back a thin layer of skin to transform my known life into something other.

Finding people to pose for me always opens a lot of issues; it is the same emotional process as asking someone out on a date — a possible denial hangs in the air even before the question falls into conversation. The dialogue often motions in circles, slowly closing in on the topic — a ripple effect in reverse, myself avoiding eye contact, stammering and stumbling until the request forms.

Such proposals exist as confessionals, an admission of attraction between artist and the possible model, vocalizing a desire to build a connection between each other. This is where the embarrassment lies, openly flirting with someone to convince them to pose.

I do not remember asking my roommate to sit blindfolded on the edge of his bed in the dorm, but the results exist: a life study composed in ink and colored pencils, a figure in denial of the world's uneasy existence. A figure of self blindness / self delusion.

Quest resulted from a movie-still produced in the 1950's, an intention to follow a concept of Salvador Dali, incorporating a scene of unreality, matching unrelated images together, some commercial, some self-invented, all hinting at overt Freudian connections.

Looking at the picture now, the image attempts a didactic attitude rather than produce a meaningless surrealistic dream. the hero figure temporarily blinded by a veil, the object of his pursuit unknowingly right in front of him.

He exists as my preliminary representation of the masculine aspects of the moon; his loin cloth transforming to the full moon. The double image acting as a personal twisting of western icons:
     wilderness = male = winter = ice = moon
     civilization = female = summer = fire = sun

An experiment in stroke marks and ink scratches: an act to cover the subject behind veils, layers of double meaning and suggestion. Hiding the portrait in sight, yet waiting for the wind to shift aside the curtains to display the hidden aspects of the self.

— or blinding the viewer in a sense; obscuring the vision of the audience. A set up for an anticipation of an event that can never fulfill itself, a slow disclosure, frozen in time.

Looking at the last three concepts, with the knowledge of events which would later unfold, they ironically all carry the same motif of blindness — a lack of acknowledgement of the obvious. All three show a motivation for self exile, turning inward as an act of turning invisible — like a child covering their eyes, wanting to become transparent to the world. —or folding one self up, transforming into an origami paper doll.