I wont wake up if you leave/live my dream Painting

Joel Vinsen on "I wont wake up if you leave/live my dream" Iliad described the evolution of this painting as a person living out her life. She starts out blank, and day by day, layer by layer, she grows, changes, and evolves, until eventually she ends. Even if not visible, every individual layer, mistake, experience, scar, color, shape and texture in her life contribute to who she is as a whole. And even after death, the way in which her life is perceived by others will gradually change too, as the perception of any person considering her life will evolve over time. The way in which another person will perceive a part or parts of a life depends on an infinite number of variables. Even for the painter or the painting herself, it is impossible to observe and remember everything. Sometimes we sleep and dream. We can never see, hear or feel everything at once; to look closely at something specific requires not looking at something else. To put something specific into context, we can try to remember the other things around it, but to hold a perfectly accurate and unbiased picture in our memory is impossible. Our memory is influenced by the sum of our opinions, emotions and life experience up to this point in time. And to consider all things together we must compromise the way in which we consider each individual part of the whole. We perceive a triangle in different ways depending on its color, size, our physical location, how it relates to other things around it, and our own personal experiences and memories. The way in which we perceive is always fluid. A conversation, a dog barking, a change in temperature, the passing of time, our breathing, music and silence, your thoughts. Everything affects the way that we experience things, just as every event in a persons life, and every detail in a painting, even if it goes unnoticed, and no matter how small or insignificant we think it may be, plays a part in shaping the whole. To me this painting is still alive, even now that she is finished. She lives through the eye of the observer. As I grow and change over time, so will my perception of her life. I have had the privilege of watching her evolve day by day, and layer by layer. My memories of the details in each layer, some of which are now hidden, and the way in which these memories influence my perception of the finished painting, mean that I perceive her differently than if I had only seen her after her life was complete. And if I observe this painting again in an hour, a day, a month or a year, my impression of her will have changed, due to the layers which are constantly being painted on my own life. One of my favorite parts of this painting is a small purple oval, surrounded by black dots. This was one of the final details that Iliad added to ‘I won’t wake up if you live/leave my dream’. When I first noticed it I sat really close to her to see it in detail, and as a consequence I noticed other textures and details in her life that I had previously missed. This makes me wonder what I would have seen if I had observed all of the previous layers from such close proximity. Or from further away, upside down, in a different light, or at a different time in my own life. This is why I find this painting so beautiful and intriguing. Just like another person, or even myself, I will never know her completely. Joel Vinsen 20th March 2013