Daydreams

© Michaël HiepIn 2003 Michaël embarked on a series of smaller paintings (30 x 40 cm) with the overarching title ‘Dagdromen’ (daydreams).

These daydreams are ideas, images, associations or philosophies that can suddenly insert themselves into his mind at any time of day or night, to nestle there, waiting for the redeeming oil paint. The result is scenes that are narrative, humorous, symbolic and sometimes, too, absurdistic.

“In the middle of painting, inside my head there are occasional moments of stillness: a dreamy twilight region while the work simply carries on, says Michaël. It is in these silences, when thought appears momentarily to have ceased, that I hear words or short sentences and see images; it is all completely unpredictable. These flashes become the germs of new paintings. I call them daydreams. They have an alienating effect but they are more coherent and more in tune with reality than the dreams we have in sleep. I used to write them down in an exercise book, but now I work them out, and this gives me much satisfaction.”

In the daydreams we see a reflection of his respect for all creation, while his view of our own existence within the greater scheme sometimes comes to the surface. This can occasionally produce a smile or a slight shock, a brief instant of recognition or a sense of compassion; there is always a momentary jolt for the spectator: these daydreams offer a new impulse.

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