Wake Up To Dream 2009

Dave Macdowell seems to have made this painting with oils, though who knows, maybe it's acrylic, or a combination of media? It feels like a labour of love, but also pretty intense—like the artist had to get this bizarre vision out of their head. The colour palette is like, theatrical—purples and reds, which make me think of royalty, but maybe also like, clowns. I wonder if the artist was thinking about the kind of dark, slightly scary side of the circus? There is a lot of ornamentation, detail in the composition, the painting could almost be a tapestry or the cover of a prog rock album! I like the way he's mixed up all these different elements like the octopus, the butterflies and the harlequin figure, and the insect playing the organ. What a trip! Ultimately, it's a really playful image, and I think that comes from a certain freedom in the process—the artist is going with their intuition, not worrying too much about whether it "makes sense" in a traditional way. You just get the feeling the artist is totally in their own world. It reminds me that artists are always having conversations with each other across time, and maybe next time I’m in the studio I'll embrace the weird and unexpected a little more.