Dreamstate

A lot of the art I create comes directly from the dreamstate. For most of my career as an artist, I've worked hard to train my mind to remember specifics of dreams and translate them into imagery. It doesn't always work and sometimes it can be very disruptive to getting really good rest. But if its done right the imagery that comes from it can be much more intense than that obtained just from creative thinking. 

The piece above is a bit different because it did not come from deep REM sleep but from daydreaming. This is a good way to brainstorm new ideas, but it happens very quickly. When I grasp an image I have to act on it very fast or I'll lose it completely. In this case I was working on something totally unrelated and suddenly saw the image for just a brief micro-second. I stopped and tried to keep it focused in mind and immediately shut down what I was doing and tried to tackle it before it was gone. I knew I needed two faces of the same person in order to create not just the image but the concept of the different faces we show the world. 

The model is a good friend of mine who I have photographed many times in years past. So it was a given that I search my archives for him first. The face with the eyes closed was actually taken in the very first photo shoot I ever did with him. The face with the eyes open, again coincidentally was in the very last shoot I did with him just before he moved out of state. It wasn't planned that way, but most good art is inspiration both at the moment of conception and within the details. 

The hard part of dreamstate art is not having the dreams, but in retaining them afterwards. But the rewards, especially for an artist that focuses on surrealism is priceless. 

This piece will be added to the Phantasm Portraits series.