About flying gathers inspiration from a 1-week-stay at a foster home in rural China. A little boy has a playful, yet deeply calm expression on his face, one may say an expression of joy and fulfilment, while he appears as if floating among a flock of golden fish, the ultimate representation of fortune, while swaying on a swing.
Although the visual, oniric recollection reported in About Flying was not personal, I decided to paint it because I felt deeply connected to it. The reference used was obtained by a person who later described the experience to me as one of awakening from a nightmare, from the turmoil adulthood can feel like at times. They said having the opportunity to spend time around children that had lost all that we, adults, think of as cornerstone for happiness, allowed them to realise how diluted we can get by externalities that are not really that important. They said that being around these children brought them back to the true essence of themselves: satisfaction steming from the playful joy, freedom being relishing the present moment.
About Flying is an active invitation to realise that the path towards fortune is no other but to allow oneself a naive appreciation of the experience of being alive and the acknowledgment of how wonderful that is.
- Subject Matter: Figurative surrealism, representational, whimsical, oniric
- Collections: Dark Surrealism Series #1, Life Underwater