A R T I S T S T A T E M E N T
My creative interests shift amongst many visual art media including filmmaking. As I develop new artistic themes and ideas, I intuitively improvise in composing visual material while searching for potential poetic and symbolic connotations and an aesthetic appeal. The subject of my visual artwork remains pluralistic, fluid and polymorphous. My creative processes synthesize long-standing artistic interests including mythological representations, surreal aesthetics, transformational psychology, visual poetics, and the fantastical.
As both a visual artist and independent filmmaker, I am fascinated by the montage nature of dream life. Much of my imagery is inspired by the notion that dreams may know the truth of the world. Much of contemporary culture denies mythical nature of dream visions even though these phenomena are ever present in the unconscious. In all art media and filmmaking, I continue to create imagined visualizations from otherworldly experiences as poetic laboratories. Each of these artworks embodies its own enigmatic inner logic. The experience of this work is not intended to appease the conscious mind but to challenge it.
I remain intensely interested in experimenting with collage processes in all art media. For me, collaging involves the creation of unpredictable juxtapositions that interests all Surrealists. I believe that meaningful collaging intuitively creates open, metaphorical relationships. My artwork freely integrates motifs and ambiguous narratives from the symbolic life of inner worlds while visually investigating the complex nature of interior knowledge.
It is fulfilling for me to create allegorical narratives that shape themselves around a psychological tone. It is my hope that viewers will not try to deconstruct these visions with dismissive rationalizations. Rather, I hope that those who experience the strange and beautiful representations of dream language in my artwork, will surrender their imaginations to be activated and allow themselves to become psychically open and receptive.
FILMMAKER STATEMENT
My film stories explore metaphorical aspects of the human condition, sensory awareness, dream knowledge, and spiritual imagination. My films are created to form positive emotional experiences with human vulnerability, sensitivity and beauty.
STILL HERE / IMMERDAR (2024) is my 10th short art film. Death and dying are perpetually sensationalized or trivialized in film and media worldwide. This is what STILL HERE disrupts this. This brave film presents how the shared experience of a loved one who is dying can be beautiful. Most people have had the painful experience of losing a loved one. However, the discourse that we lead surrounding the topic of death is one-sided and fearful, especially in Western societies. The idea of cinematically exploring death and loss in a more nuanced, ambiguous and with beauty sets in motion many philosophical questions. No one wants to die in a hospital, and this art film project will openly question the widely accepted convention that is expected and more dignified to die comfortably in one’s own home. What if someone wishes to be in nature when she leaves this world?
TO ART COLLECTORS
Many of the artworks featured on this website are available for sale. ALL INQUIRES ARE WELCOME.
ARTIST Contact info.
bsoul7@yahoo.ca
john.d.graham@usask.ca
RECENT SOLO SHOWS
S O L O A R T E X H I B I T I O N S
2022 ‘Le Miroir ambigu’ Centre d’artistes Voix Visuelle, Ottawa, ON, Canada
2022 ‘The Ambiguous Mirror’ White Water Gallery, North Bay, ON, Canada
2019 ‘Des Juxtapositions des Touchers’ CAVA - Espace Exploration, Edmonton, Canada
2018 ‘Fiercely Open’ Alberta Printmakers Gallery, Calgary, AB, Canada
SHOW REVIEW: https://52986c3b-419b-4b63-9323-454657a025ca.filesusr.com/ugd/76a681_df888a29891e425180443c8f8cdfa0b4.pdf