What is Mythed Reality?
Just as 'Mixed Reality' interweaves the digital and physical realms, 'Mythed Reality' represents an intertwining of the real, tangible world with the metaphoric, symbolic narratives we construct from our experiences.
Within these narratives we find escape. They are alluring. But where the lines between fantasy and reality are blurred, the dream can become too magnetic. We can become drawn towards our personal myths at the expense of the real.
This is something we all face with the dawning of a new digital age.
THE DROP
NIFTYGATEWAY // AUG 2 // 6.30PM EST
With these three images I have tried to distill some of what the term ‘Mythed Reality’ means to me. The dangers of being drawn towards unreality with ‘Sirens’. The lure of escape during our most difficult moments, even though we might find strength there, in ‘Escape’. And with ‘Ceremony’ I invite you become part of these myths and to venture into the unreal.
As with all of my work the style is part of the story - a representation of my personal escapism in the fantasy art of the 70s & 80s. My dreams are soaked in nostalgia, and so the colours and textures play a huge part in their symbolism.
And finally, the presence of three moons link everything back to my story-about-stories - The Endling Saga.
TIMELAPSES
It was important to me to show the craft side of my work. I wanted all three images to start with a blank canvas, and to show the process of their creation through timelapse footage. So here they are:
A note on ‘Escape’
Putting my personal life in my art is not common for me. At least not directly (plenty in a symbolic way). This is my most personal piece to date.
The image shows a figure emerging into a new world. The gate he passes through is less a portal and more a rip, his reality tearing into the unreal in an almost violent burst. At the edges of the tear, the texture changes, morphing into a halftone comic book fantasy.
But he is not just emerging, he is escaping. What he is escaping from is quite harrowing. But the presence of the sword means that perhaps this place - this dream - is somewhere he can find strength and the means to protect what he is leaving behind in the hospital bed.
Over the last couple of years one of my children was very sick. Thankfully, that episode had a happy ending, as all the best stories do. But I wanted to make this piece to show all of the myriad ways a person like me copes. There is guilt, for turning from the real towards a dream. But there is reason in it too, as this is my way to find resolve and determination to look after those I love the most.