BEATRICE'S DREAMS

Jorge Mesa, 2021
Series of 9 images - Printed digital photography
82 cm x 117 cm horizontally and 117 cm x 82 cm vertically

ES   EN
 
 
Lillian was reminded of the talmudic words: We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.
— Fragment of the novel "Seduction of the Minotaur" (1961), by the French writer Anaïs Nin Cilmell.
 
 
 

The exercise of interpreting a work before knowing the author's comments is for me an exquisite experiment in every sense, it is what most seduces me about abstraction as a means of expression, since it leads to discussion and creation of new meanings.

Everything that now has a meaning and is recognizable was once abstract.

What I am looking for is a “creative impression”, a surprise motivated by interpretations that I would never have imagined.

This series is about a character whose name refers to the experience and enjoyment of paradise. Based on her experiences, I try to reflect on the connections between the oneiric and human consciousness, while I keep exploring dreams as a method for artistic creation.

Who is Beatrice? Is she a real or fictional entity? Why has she come to me?

I like to believe that she is a flesh and blood person, someone independent, with her own reality, connected with me through dreams. Her daily life appears reflected again and again in her daydreams, simple moments of which I am a witness. It's not me who dreams, it's Beatrice.

We share a portal, an open window with white curtains always moving, from where I can see and go through her interior landscape to find what really defines her. Perhaps this exercise shows me the way to understand myself, my desires and fantasies.

Introspection stands out in this work. Within the stories that describe each image there are elements that are linked to my own experiences, memories or dreams, included in a subtle way contributing to the creation of Beatrice's universe. In the end, it is hard for an artist to get rid of what he is, even when we talk about the abstract, the ephemeral, the random, or as in this case, the indomitable.