RICKELS' ESSAY Crockett Fortune Katz Pearlstein Robinson Shaw Tapola Weaver Welch

Jim Shaw The works in this show are part of an ongoing piece which began in 1987 when I began dreaming of artwork that I felt needed to be made. The structure I originally devised was to present it within the context of an examination of solipsism and its dangers on one hand and the devaluation of surrealism (from revolutionary force in the 20's to beer advertising in the 80's) on the other. I began keeping diaries of my dreams, then audiotapes. In 1992 I finally began drawing them, so as to present the context within which the artworks appeared, as well as to finalise the details and aesthetics of the art objects. Initally the objects were by other artists, which kept them at the comfortable distance the artworld prefers. Somewhere along the line, I was dreaming of works I'd made, which at first was a disappointment, since by the rules I'd set up for myself, they'd be un-usable. Eventually the categories expanded to include thrift store paintings, comic art, illustrations and after I'd been drawing my dreams awhile, dream drawings. Due to the unpredictable nature of the source (ie the unconscious mind) the broad outline and distanced outlook of the piece has changed by the very use of such material. However I won't go into the personal details of my psychological history (since we all know there's nothing more boring than listening to someone elses dream).* Other than to say I was at first disturbed and embarrassed by the large ammount of material that related to comics and costumed heroes. I noticed eventually that the most violent, agressive and sexual actions took place in comic books I'd dream of and this seemed to correspond to the level of comics aimed at yonger post infancy kids (7-9) like Super Man, Bat Man, and Wonder Woman, where the level of bondage and S&M seems greater than in more "mature" (10-12 year old readers) like Flash and Green Lantern. More specifically, "Little Archie" was involved in more sophisticated forms of malice (ie Reggie's treachery). I figured using comics was the minds way of distancing itself from disturbing or socially unacceptable drives. Finally I figured, "what the heck," why not give in to the most embarrassing images, like myself with potbelly, dressed as the Flash, since self satire seems a halmark of my dream repetoire, besides of course there is the basic wish fulfillment of the super hero with perfect body, now under cut by the cruel ravages of middle age. I've also included pieces I cannot explain (flourescent snoopys) and simple puns (the butt head drawing) because unexplainable phenomna and a complex repetoire of visual and verbal puns are what make dreams most memorable to me. Jim Shaw December 1995 Los Angeles *This is directly related to the narcissistic and solipsistic nature of dreams - ie they are interesting to me because I dreamt them or interesting because I didn't dream them. I only hope I've been capable of presenting my dreams in an interesting way.