Submerged in Slumber

 Nicoletta Ceccoli, Beedream, 2007 

 Marie Francois Constance Mayer-Lamartiniere, The Sleep of Venus and Cupid, 1806

John Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, 1781

Zhao Kailin, The Dream Back to Tang Dynasty, 2010

Elena Kalis, Sleep Walking

Felix Vallotton, Sleep, 1908

Lucian Freud, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, 1995

Forrest Jessee, Sleep Suit, 2006

Chu Yun, The Sleeping Women, 2009

 Henry Peach Robinson, Sleep, 1867

Sleep, a deep well of inspiration for countless artists; like the moon that pulls on poets. Something so elusive yet so pertinent to our beings, an enigma that once we surrender to, consumes us whole. As the night-sky blinks its black dusty wings above our faces, we enter into a state where the unimaginable can reveal itself... winding into the labyrinth of our unconscious minds "chance becomes direction that we cannot see; discord, harmony not understood". A fragile thread streaming inside of us, wanting to connect us to the next piece of the patterned patchwork puzzle.

Art After Dark

Hirofu Iso / Komainu, Once Night Falls, 2007

James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, 1875

Sam Weber

Jade Klara, The Metro Tail

Ivan Bilibin, Vasilisa the Beautiful, 1899

Taddeo Gaddi, The Angelic Announcement to the Shepards, 1328

The 14th-century artist, Taddeo Gaddi, was intrigued by light and its effects and so he channeled this fascination into his oil paintings. "The Angelic Announcement to the Shepards" shown above, is considered to be the first image in the history of art to depict a scene at nighttime. 

It is interesting to contrast Gaddi's artwork with "Once Night Falls" featured at the top of this thread by Hirofu Iso / Komainu as one can envision how art has transmuted from The Medieval Period to The Twentieth Century; contemporary art often shies away from traditional painting techniques and dips into a diverse range of multimedia in the creation of conceptual installations that generate an experiential atmosphere for the viewer.  

Symmetry; A Butterflied Effect

Chris Johanson, The Sound of Energy in Space, 2010

Lauren Schofield, Kaleidoscopic Butterfly, 2006

Jo Jackson, Living Brushes, 2006

Maya Hayuk

Chris Johanson

Dalek

Keegan Mchargue

Katy Horan, String Game

Dylan Martorell, Panter Cluster Rimbone Exhibition

 A symmetrical poem by Michael McClure from the book titled, Organism

Red Riding Hood

Petrina Hicks, Nastasja, 2006

Petrina Hicks, Lambswool, 2008

Cheong-ah Hwang, Little Red Riding Hood, 2010

Jillian Tamaki, Little Red Riding Hood, 2010

Kiki Smith, Born, 2002

Chris Buzelli, Lust (The Seven Deadly Sins), 2009

Lady with a Ferret

Lostfish, The Girl And The Ferret, 2007

Leonardo da Vinci, La dama Con L'ermellino, 1488 - 1490

Micro-Sculpture

Slinkachu - Little People

Slinkachu - Little People

Slinkachu - Little People

Dalton Ghetti - Pencil Tip Sculpture

Dalton Ghetti - Pencil Tip Sculpture

Dalton Ghetti - Pencil Tip Sculpture

Willard Wigan - Needle Tip Sculpture

Willard Wigan - Needle Tip Sculpture

The three artists featured above focus (that's the operative word here) on creating incy-wincey sculptures that are large in their novelty and capacity to surprise, if not in their size. I was once rather chuffed with myself for owning a deck of playing cards the size of my thumb-nail. Needles to say, I lost it. There is something very pleasurable about infinitesimally small creations. Maybe they bring us closer to our atoms. Also, they do not seek out an overt attention-grabbing audience, but rather exist in reality as items of skill and virtuosity that require very direct experience and personal engagement from the viewer. A wee treasure waiting to be shared. 

Dalton Ghetti, who carves out his own niche as well as sculptures into pencil lead, uses three basic tools to make his tiny creations – a razor blade, sewing needle and sculpting knife. Dalton has never sold any of his work and only gives it away to friends. The longest Dalton has spent on one piece was two and half years on a pencil with interlinking chains.

A Sudden Gust of Wind

Jeff Wall, detail from A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 1993

Jeff Wall, A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 1993

 Serkan Ozkaya, A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 2008

Carrie Marill, A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 2009

Katsushika Hokusai, Ejiri in Suruga Province (Sunshû Ejiri), 1830-33

  

 "If you were a bird, and lived on high, 

You'd lean on the wind when the wind 

came by, you'd say to the wind 

when it took you away: 

That's where I wanted to go today!"

- A.A. Milne

Weightlessness

Nagi Noda, Untitled, 2004

Rene & Radka, Under Water series, 2009

Sam Taylor-Wood, Self-Portrait Suspended, 2004

Ken Unsworth, "A Ringing Glass" Installation, 2009

haiku - floating leaf

floating leaf
an ant runs
round and round

by john tiong chunghoo