DreamBean

Emotional Son (2021)

DreamBean’s art explores the connection of the internal and external landscape through a queer gaze, questioning, ‘what does it mean to be a creative adult?’ Making art that is anti-realism and pseudo-naive, they aim to create something that is ironically confessional around topics that they ‘weren’t allowed to talk about’ growing up in rural catholic Ireland. DreamBean’s approach to art is both spiritual and therapeutic, allowing the viewer to enter into an ethereal world that explores childhood memories, trauma, nostalgia and identity. The portrait of an anxious queer self, manifests in their art through layering seen in the use of repetition, mixed matched textures and chaotic patterns and colour. In their art, they blur the boundaries between painting, sculpture/lens and printmaking in order to create a playful practice that is multi-disciplinary.

DreamBean enjoys playing with camp, bright colours, political satire and punchy word play, to create a facade for the exploration of darker themes. They identify with maximalism, DIY and all things queer. They see nature as a (queer) powerful, non-judgemental force, thus making it the ultimate source for healing, self-acceptance and an energy that can be embodied; as a result, they feel that nature will always be present in their work. Taking ownership and reclaiming is an important aspect when creating, they see art as a tool to heal, explore and adopt different identities allowing for fluid self-expression. Using the name ‘DreamBean’, allows them to indulge their fantasies and bring their dreams and desires into physicality. ‘Queering’ allows them to deconstruct social mores and overcome oppression by embracing queer coding and identity politics in their work. DreamBean approaches queering in their art, as a method for a universal understanding around influx identities and encourages the viewer to embrace individuality and keep dreaming.