DREAMLAND

Upon visiting Cappadocia, which lies in Eastern Anatolia in the center of Turkey, I was struck by its strange and spectacular landscape. It is an extraordinary region that is unmatched in the world, filled with fascinating beauty and an incredible harmony of shapes and colors. A combination of wind, extreme climate, mechanical weathering, rain, snow and rivers caused intense erosion that shaped the land, giving Cappadocia its unusual and characteristic rock formations, known as “fairy chimneys.” Human hands performed equally incredible works, as the rocky wonderland is honeycombed with a network of manmade caves, living quarters, places of worship, and storehouses, all dug into the soft stone. Tunnel complexes form entire towns with as many as eight stories hidden underground, creating subterranean cities that were used to escape from the attacks of wild animals and hard winter conditions. 

My newest series, Dreamland, was named after the Aboriginal practice in which the dream and spiritual life is interpreted visually using dotting, a pointillist technique. In this series, I explore the connection between Cappadocia and its landscapes of caves and rock totems with the Aboriginal dotted dream world, colliding two seemingly different worlds. Evolving from a previous series, Zen Dot Energy, the energy activating dotting combined with references to cave painting and hieroglyphics form a newly imagined world. This new world is my interpretation of a belief that nature is the organic truth that lies all around us. By combining existing elements in different ways, I reimagine that which nature has already created. 

Click here to read an essay by Peter Frank, art critic and curator.