The door led to another chamber just as large as ours if not bigger it’s hard to tell when you cannot see the end. It was a lot like our chamber for the most part people doing things. Yet there were a lot of differences, they all look a tad different then us and had some odd behaviors that just seem out of place. It was as if someone copied our chamber yet changed all the details.

They called their chamber China. For some reason everyone wanted to be friends but knew it could not be. We all feared war. Our government wanted to sit and talk with Chinas government we wanted to find some common ground and avoid war. China agreed but wanted to have the meeting at their conference hall. We were in a large dark hall, with what seemed to be the whole population of China in the stands all around us, the middle had a card table with a spotlight on it with four chairs. Someone else from our chamber, high ranking I am assuming, two of the Chines top officials, and myself sat at the table.

We exchanged pleasantries. The China men offered us one of their finest coffee’s I have to admit it was amazing rich, smooth and dark. They noticed my surprised look and responded with a look of pride. We talk about all kinds of things our similarities our differences. The whole time everyone was armed and ready to react with the slightest provocation. It was tense, the meeting continued and without anything really being said it was like the whole hall just knew “NOW” and violence broke out. That was it…war just kind of happened. It was like everyone knew that it was going to happen and so it did without any warning, yet it was not a surprise. I dove for cover.

The hall got more and more chaotic, death was all around. I reach for the only weapon I brought a knife. Stupid, I know but I felt as if maybe it could work between us and China, why bring a gun. It seems as if I was the only one that had any thought of something like that. Everyone else was fully armed with guns and tons of ammo.

I knew I needed to fight for my family and my chamber. I grabbed one of the Chinese men and put the knife to his throat. Another Chinese man saw me and had his gun pointed at me waiting to see what my next move would be. I could not do it, I could not kill him, he was a man just like me. I threw him off to the side expecting to be shot, as my only defense was my hostage and a knife. To my surprise I did not get shot the other Chinese men who witnessed this went into a shock and really did not know how to respond to my action. That is when my alarm went off…

My artwork, much like dreams, is focused in my subconscious.  Surreal work is often equated to dreams that are heavy in symbolism and oddities. Dreams have a limitation that artwork does not. It is difficult to remember your dreams from last night and almost impossible to remember your dreams from last year. Even the rare dreams that stick with you like an experience from your childhood. They tend to be vague and fuzzy and you also forget what was happening in your life that caused that dream in the first place.

I was looking through some of my old artwork last Thursday, and I was able see it in a new light. I remembered when I created them and all the things that where going on in my life at that time. It is hard for us to really know how struggles or life events are going to impact our lives when they are happening but after the fact you can look back and see it with clarity. It was like that but with my subconscious I felt as if I was looking in to my past dreams and seeing my fears, struggles and victories on a subconscious level.

It was not until that moment I figured out what my artwork meant to me. For example my piece Interview when I created that piece it was right before I really started my career in web design and development. I had an interview coming up that was on my mind a lot when I created it. Looking at it now I see how subconsciously pessimistic I was about getting the job.  The small tree lost in a desert seemed to so clearly symbolize my hope for getting the job. Looking back at that I smile knowing that I did get the job.

It is difficult to tell the story of a piece of artwork especially if it is something I have recently created. It takes time for me to really understand what I was thinking at that time I created and how things played out. The greatest thing about surreal artwork is that the symbols in it change to fit the view. The struggles and experiences in my life create my artwork. Yet they can reflex the viewers own life experiences and can represent anyone.

Permanent Collection Gallery Art
921 Central Ave
Fort Dodge, IA 50501