I Was Convinced It Wasn’t A Dream is a series of acrylic paintings depicting uncertain interactions: harming or holding, destroying or shaping, lurking or guarding. My characters are humanoid, but ostensibly not composed of flesh and blood, and they exist in inconclusive spaces. Together, these qualities conjure a sense of liminality– an in-between state where detachment from the self, others, and physical reality proliferates. I always find myself floating somewhere in this sort of ambiguous headspace. I often paint scenes like these as a method of facing uncertainty and parsing through my internal commotion to piece together what, subconsciously, is bothering me, fascinating me, or asking to be investigated. And, while painting is one of the few activities that allows me to relax, the process often produces unsettled imagery regardless. This contrast imbues each painting with a sense of conflict, a quality that I hope allows just enough ambiguity for viewers to see facets of their own lived experiences in my work.
