ADAM NACIANCENO'S ILLUSION OF AN UNFOLDED DREAM

By Arnel Mirasol

Illusion of an Unfolded Dream, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 3 X 4 feet

When we speak of dreams, we speak of illusions. We speak of hopes that have not come into fruition yet. There are pleasant dreams, and there are nightmares. It is the pleasant dreams, which are unfolded serenely during sleep, that we want to prolong. Here, Nacianceno speaks of abrupt awakening, of the sudden cessation of a pleasant dream, resulting in feelings of frustration and the strong desire to resume sleep to recapture that lost dream. That frustration is reflected in the raised eyebrow and glaring eye of the face in the painting. The drips and splashes of swirling paints, the smudges, and the blurring floral patterns hint of the turmoil a person deprived of his sweet dream is undergoing. The floral images here are all graphic patterns. They are not representations of natural flowers, and are all distinct or non-repeating. Doing that is not easy. But Nacianceno did that, facilely, proclaiming to all his heightened sense of design and rampant creativity. The very title of this painting, and all of his paintings for that matter, suggests Nacianceno's poetic leanings. His paintings are visual poems saying something without explicitly saying them.