At Bird Room, Artist Kristin Texeira Translates Dreams

Bird Room is an evolving artist space in Roscoe, New York, housed in what was once a Pontiac dealership. Today, the space is owned by artist Robin Winters (it once served as his home, glass shop, and studio) functions as artist Lauren Daccache’s studio and is run by Daccache and Lauren Youngblood as Bird Room—an open studio series inviting artists to take over the space with their work and immersive installations throughout the site.

For its fall show, Bird Room hosted artist Kristin Texeira, who spent time in residence gathering dreams from the local community and translating them into painted worlds. The resulting body of work, ‘Dreamcombing’, covered the gallery walls in symbols and fragments—a constellation of dreams that seem to point somewhere just out of reach.

In the conversation below, Winters and Texeira explore the nature of dreams—what separates dreams from reality, the control (or lack thereof) we have over our dreams as we age, and the space between memory and imagination in her painting practice.

Robin Winters: I first published my dreams in a 1985 anthology titled Wild History put together by Richard Prince. My contribution was titled “Living and Lifeless Bodies”. And I am currently working on a book project titled Freedom of Sleep that is full of dreams and drawings. I am going to list a few artists that come to mind as I look at your works totally off the top of my head: David Tremlett, Suzanne Frecon, Henri Matisse and Duane Michaels. I’m also thinking of the story about Salvador Dali who would hold a metal key in his hand off the side of his bed over a porcelain plate and as he started to fall into slumber the key would drop on the plate thus waking him up and he would write down his dreams.

Not to provoke the anxiety of influence but rather to expose my own processing. Ok now for my questions… Do you think it is possible that one’s dreams are real?

Kristin Texeira: REAL? If by real you mean reality, I do not think our dreams are of the same material as our awake reality. I think they exist on a different plane. If by real you mean true, I believe dreams are our truth. They reveal to us things about ourselves that we may not be aware of while we are awake.

RW: What do you do with your dreams when you first wake up?

KT: When I was younger, just before falling asleep, I would tell my mind to hold onto my dreams for the morning. Dreams came easily without my request if I happened to be sleeping in a new place, like by the sea or on the sea or in the desert. When under a new roof my dreams come alive. It is the same when I am awake. If I stay in a place for too long my eyes don’t always NOTICE because I’m used to my environment. When I change scenery, I see more. There is more to surprise me. I might not be aware of what’s around the corner, what street to take so I must look harder. The act of survival helps me SEE MORE. I am now in the same place most of the time and the only solution I have to wake UP is to change the position of my couch in the livingroom. To ANSWER YOUR QUESTION: When I was collecting dreams, I would keep a notebook by my bed and write them down. It was there for middle of the night wake ups too. I am now a mother. When I wake up my first task is to put a waffle in the toaster for my son. Most of my dreams are left in sheets due to the current foremost responsibility to keep my child alive.

RW: Can you please make a soundtrack of songs that reference dreams?

KT: YES, when I listen to music, I listen to the sound of the song first and to lyrics second. There are songs that sound like dreams but do not mention the fact of dreaming. I will give you two lists. One list of songs that sound like dreams. One list of songs that mention dreaming. Here is a song that might overlap both categories: “The Pyramid Song” by Radiohead. More that sound like a dream...

“I’m on Fire” by Bruce Springsteen

”I Think of You” by Rodriguez

”Luna” by The Smashing Pumpkins

”Seventeen” by Sharon Van Etten

“Blue Comanche” by Westerman

“A Great Design” by Black Marble

“Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star

“Us and Them“ by Pink Floyd

“Champagne Coast” by Blood Orange

MENTIONS DREAMING:

“Dreaming of You” by Selena

“Your Dream” by Kim Jung Mi

“Day Dreaming” by Aretha Franklin

“I’m Only Sleeping” by The Beatles

“Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac

“Dream, Ivory” by Dream, Ivory

“I’ll See You in My Dreams” by Django Reinhardt

“Orange Sky” by Alexi Murdoch

“Dream” by Al Green

“300 Dreams” by After

“Walking on a Dream” by Empire of the Sun

RW: Do you have an opinion regarding abstraction and figuration or narrative vs non narrative content?

KT: My opinion is that if it comes from a place of TRUTH and PASSION then it’s all a beautiful thing. If you’re asking about what my favorite FLAVORS are then I will say that color and meaning in art is what draws me in. I see a tight-ass photorealist painting and I’m like damn that is SKILL. I can appreciate it. But if it doesn’t have color I don’t want to take it to bed with me. I see a painting that is about the movement of the material on a surface. I like that. I get down with that being a purpose to create. But if I find out there is a story behind the painting—why that color was chosen, what each mark means—if there is a poem to go along with it or if it references a place and time – I mean, that’s what really gets me going.

RW: Given the current political environment how do you replenish your spirit/enthusiasm to make work?

KT: Let me tell you, at this point in time, a lot of the work I am making is $URVIVAL. For the most part, I am making art to live. I am free in that I have my time and my health and means but I have to SELL SELL SELL for those means. When I find time to write in my sketchbooks, or notice little beautiful things, or have a bizarro conversation with a stranger or old friend, THAT fills me. That is the true connective art. But the “art” that keeps me busy lately is so that our son can have his own room someday and can keep going to a good school and keep eating organic carrots.

RW: Is there a difference between night and day (dreams)?

KT: For me—yes a very big difference. Daydreams for me are wishes for the future or time travels to the past. My mind is always occupied. I drive with my husband and we are quiet for a while and then I ask him what he has been thinking. He says he has just been looking out the window. Meanwhile I have traveled to the memory of those strawberry wrapped hard candies on my great-aunts living room table or to a ramen place where an old boyfriend is having a hard time with his chopsticks. DAYDREAMS are PAST AND FUTURE. NIGHT DREAMS are in a completely different realm where time does not exist. Think about how when we explain dreams it is often impossible to recite the timeline. You are here and there in what order when? You are one character in the dream but also another and some people have no definition at all. WHAT WORLD IS THAT? Not the daydream world. Not the world with clock time.

RW: Have you ever consciously decided to meet in a dream with anyone?

KT: I have not. That’s a great idea. It feels somewhat familiar to me. I’m sure I mentioned the idea to an old boyfriend when we were away from each other. But no memory specifically stands out. Let me tell you something else that has nothing to do with this question other than DREAMS. My mother taught me a cure for nightmares when I was little. The trick is to turn your pillow over. The bad dreams get squished underneath, and you have a fresh side for new and hopefully more pleasant dreams.