Max Van Alstine
Wooden Mirror and Ink on Paper
Dream Mirror
Max Van Alstine
This works base is a long polygonal mirror in which four pen drawings have been confined together, fitting like puzzle pieces. The drawing restricted to the lower left corner contains a body half submerged in the ground while still appearing above it, lined by three plants on either side. The image above contains a slender figure sitting on what appears to be a leaf couch, surrounded by many other leaves. The drawing on the upper right shows a giant creature sitting atop a bridge in front of a landscape. The work immediately below illustrates a smaller, human looking figure walking into a deep brush of leaves and bushes. All works incorporate natural imagery; the drawings recognize something in each other, but how and what?
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After spending the past year in my childhood home because of the pandemic, I found myself having intensely emotional responses to small material items, rooted in memories and events that I was not ready to confront directly. I became concerned with the implications surrounding selective memory, and how something relatively inconsequential–like a picture book–can be a powerful reminder of something that lives on the border of the conscious and unconscious. Rather than exploring the way that a memory can pervade conscious thought and the intense, immediate response that comes with it, I wanted to look to the other side of myself and reflect on some of the most vivid dreams I have had. Each panel of the mirror is inspired by a character I have played or seen in a significant dream, in an environment encoded with a symbolic botanical message. The purpose of the mirror is to be able to see yourself, looking back at you between the cracks of these dream tableaus.
This work is constructed with recycled paper, ink, and a mirror. For the finished edition it will be expanded: the illustrations will be expanded into short accordion books/zines covering content related to these unconscious experiences, and an element of collage and paper cutting will be incorporated in order to break the harsh boundaries of the paper and the mirror. For optimal digital experience, the mirror will be photographed in high quality and all zines will be digitized.