Progress on Dream Study
Thursday, February 08, 2007Yesterday I had an interesting meeting with another painter, and he got me thinking more about why I'm making art about dreams. Honestly, I don't think I feel strongly about this subject; but I do find it interesting, and I want to stick it out to see where it goes. If I were really trying to make art about something that means a lot to me, I'd create it about overpopulation (which I think is the cause of most of Earth's social and environmental problems). I think I'll start gathering my thoughts on that and maybe sketch out a few ideas of how to represent that visually.
But back to dreams... Here's what I've found:
1. Dreams are difficult to remember.
2. For me, they involve people who had large impacts on my life at some point.
3. They can be nonsensical.
4. I don't think they're means of sorting out problems of the day or disposing of useless knowledge. I agree with Owen Flanagan, they're activity from the brain stem and forebrain that are for the most part random thoughts.
5. They are self-expressive, and sometimes we do live out forbidden desires through dreaming.
6. Many times we forget out dreams.
I set out recording dreams to find some sort of truth from them, and I do get it a little with the self-expression and living out fantasies. It reveals a little about who I think I am, but it wasn't anything I didn't know to begin with. So right now, I have paintings and records of dreams - not much more.
I'm trying to separate my REM dreams and NREM dreams, but I have a lot more REM dreams that I remember, so that's not really helping. (Read down in my blog for further explanation of what the difference is and what I want to do with it.)
I'd love some advice... Do you think I should stick with dreams or pursue other things? Please comment!
3 comment(s) posted:
"An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world."
-George Santayana
Hi,
Your dreams can tell you just about anything. They can be random but they can also give you access to things you would have almost no other way to know. It takes a while to learn their language, (and to learn which ones to listen to--as some will be your fears and some will be what you actually want or insight into some part of your life) but it's a very powerful metaphysical tool and a very, very powerful creative one if you're willing to submit yourself to the process.
In many ways, learning to listen to your dreams is like learning to interface with your soul, which can be very quiet/subtle as well.
The only advice I can think of is to do what you want.
Best,
Eben