iNTRODUCING "thE gATHERING"

As the pandemic began to wane in the winter of 2021, I began to experience a recurring dream. And if you have ever had this experience, you know that once it begins, you know exactly where it’s going. The unease and apprehension that normally accompanies particularly vivid dreams falls away, and you begin to look forward to the ride.

I am walking towards a clearing where a large group of people have gathered forming a circle. We seem familiar to each other, but no one I recognize. No one speaks. The crunch of gravel underfoot, the only sound. Together, we shuffle in a light so diffuse it seems a wildfire may be nearby.

Gradually, they appear, one after the other until a completed ring is formed around us. Think airborne electric triangulated structure. Beginning two or three feet off the ground and easily reaching eight or nine feet after that. They seem to move slowly, but with intention, fluttering, graceful and controlled enough to maintain their position sort of like massive bio-luminescent jellyfish. Within each structure, three bright orb like filaments seem to randomly orbit an unseen core.

I can’t figure out whether we are rotating or they. But once a full cycle is completed, they retreat, we disperse, and I wake.

Again and again, I had this dream. And I knew early on it would consume my painting until I had completed that same cycle on canvas. Five by forty-eight feet later it was finally completed. It would take two years.