Teetering on the edge of reality and the dream world, the artist balances like a tightrope walker on a high wire. Despite bills to pay, rents to be collected, and responsibilities to be tended to, the artist persists outside of the framework as the world churns about.
I used to travel, alone, on a one-way ticket, endlessly wandering. As soon as I boarded a plane to a far-off land, the reality of the world at home would vanish. For months on end, I’d enter and live in a dream-like state on the edge of an alternate dreamscape, still grounded in the notion that the transitory world I was experiencing was indeed temporary. To lose oneself in this state may be existentially threatening, for the real world provides the security and stability needed for a long and fruitful life. The dream world, however, is a realm of reckless abandonment.
Certain “geniuses” of our era somehow have found a way to merge the dream state with reality, living in a state of constant creative tension. For the rest of us, we must strive to find our own balance, between the real and unreal, always striving to keep our footing, aware of the risks and rewards.
A temporary fix, for me, into this dream world while firmly planted in reality is through music, a present meal, or a present moment in time.
Restaurants/Bars as of late that have evoked a “dreamscape”:
- El Rincon de Fabio on Argyle in Uptown
- Kumiko in West Loop
Music that has taken me there recently:
Keep trying to take yourself there.