Untitled 3

Creator

Emelyn Rodriguez, Ursinus CollegeFollow

Preview

Student Exhibition Year

2022

Description

Acrylic painting on canvas depicting a surreal scene featuring a semi-nude female form. Presented as part of the 2022 Annual Student Exhibit in the Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College.

Artist Statement

Through paintings, my work examines the connection between individuals and their unconscious minds when dreaming. Dreaming is one of the very few moments when individuals are not in constant worry, and therefore, their unconscious mind is working. Ever since I started developing my creative side, I worried about my paintings and the meaning they carry. It wasn’t until I allowed myself to paint what I saw in my dreams that I began to worry less. My interest in dreams grew as I began to experience dreams in real life. Dreams have allowed my conscious and unconscious mind to align, and therefore, I have become more self-aware. While I do not keep a journal of my dreams, I paint objects or people that are pertinent in my dreams.

There is also a time-based quality to the physicality of my paintings. I am a slow painter, meaning that most of my paintings take months to reach completion. Although it is not intentional, my paintings portray this through the many layers of paint used or the clocks painted. Starting over for better outcomes further develops the time-based quality of my paintings. While it could be frustrating to work on a piece over long periods of time, I have adapted to working on multiple pieces at once. This allows me to create more ideas and combine dreams under a surreal theme.

I desire for the viewer to place themselves as the figures portrayed in my paintings. That’s why many of my pieces do not include an identifiable figure or face. I want the viewer to let their unconscious mind loose while experiencing pastel and light colors, and an unknown environment.

Rights Statement

Copyright of the underlying work is held by the artist. The digital image presented here is for educational purposes only and is not for commercial use.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.