Simran Gleason

"My work, for a long time, has had Mythology as an undercurrent. I've mostly dealt with personal mythologies that arise serendipitously as the imagery unfolds during the painting process. Along the way there are appearances from more or lesser known characters from classical mythologies, contemporary culture, and inferred zeitgeists.

Pareidolia affords an interesting access to the subconscious, as we begin to see things in scribbles, while transforming scribbles into image. Remaining open to the characters that appear during a painting -- whether a chance juxtaposition of two different modeled poses, or simply the noticing of a particular brushstroke -- gives the compositions the beginnings of a story. I remain committed to approaching the story rather than spelling it out. This leaves room for the viewer, and even my future self, to bring new interpretations and ferret out unlikely insights.

One of my processes, which I call Oracular Surrealism, begins with the physical act of putting down paint, hopefully with no expectations as to outcome (though I do give myself formal constraints). Then I follow the things I see in the scribbles, developing them into images, characters, or settings. Sometimes one session gives me a clear view; other times the painting needs to percolate in the subconscious for quite awhile. During the pandemic, my Quarantine Doodles series (every day for most of a year) exemplified this approach."