Lucid Dream
In Lucid Dream, the artist’s
interpretation of one of his personal dreams touches on universal themes of
imagined flight, real life fear, and the farther reaches of the unknown. The elegant, unclothed figure is, in a sense,
soaring above a vast body of water inhabited only by a somewhat nondescript
green boat. The floating figure does not
appear to be looking to the boat for safety or reassurance but rather as an
object of observation – of the real versus the surreal – of dream versus
reality. The hazy, cloud-dappled sky
blending with the harmonious hues of the orange-gold horizon and the
translucent body of water – with the hint of a shoreline in sight – suggest a
place of uneasy paradise. The figure in
flight blends rather seamlessly into this dreamscape. The positioning of the water below the
ethereal, almost angelic figure, invites us to reflect on how much control or
lack of control we have over our own dream world. It also addresses the constant state of flux
we knowingly or unknowingly find ourselves in.
A fundamental aspect of
this work is the embrace of ambiguity and indeterminacy. It is ultimately
elusive and open-ended, refusing to adhere to certainty or definition. We are summoned to define, from our
interpretation, dream from reality or perhaps the commingling of both. This underlines the fact that Abadilla’s
ability to translate shared human scenarios into thought-provoking canvases is
his unique and distinctive visual voice.
