DISRUPTIVE INCOHERENCE

JUERT ASEJO, JASON RUFINO, AND JIAN GIANNINI

One response to the anxieties of modern life is escaping to the realm of dreams, in the hope that what we lack in reality may be found in fantasies of our own making. If we fear abandonment or rejection, we turn to dreams for love and companionship. Daydreams and lucid dreams in particular grant us control over imagined circumstances, a power often denied to us in the real world.

Inspired by lucid dreams, Disruptive Incoherence explores the use of the imagination as a coping mechanism for unpleasant truths. We rely on the disruptive incoherence of dreams to avoid pain and the past that causes it, even at the cost of being distracted from daily obligations. Artworks by Juert Asejo, Jason Rufino and Jian Giannini distort the human figure into fantastical colors and shapes; in refusing to accept life as it is, they transcend visible realities and depict them in their own terms.

Yet in the same way that we can only dream of things we have seen, these works never truly lose sight of the real world. Beyond Giannini’s abstracted renderings of the human body, we recognize a shared agony; human eyes watch over Rufino’s vivid streaks and spectrums; and lying hidden in the colorful chaos of Asejo’s canvases are faces in profile. These works remind us that, like our dreams, art allows us to escape and visualize a world better than the one we live in.

TEXT BY ELDRICK YUJI