Morpheus
I've always found dreams fascinating. We have this hidden realm of wonder that our conciousness travels to when we're asleep and we wake up just to carry on existing, only to travel back again at the end of the day. Where do we go though? How do they somehow feel simultaneously real, unreal and surreal?
Acrylic on Canvas
80x80 cm
January, 2026
It's easy to forget that blue orchids don't occur in nature, because we’ve compromised the original so often (like many, many things), that it almost blends into reality and becomes an axiom. Maybe it goes back to human nature and the notion that altering states enable us to unapologetically hide behind them. To mask beneath them or to morph into something else entirely (pun intended).
For this piece, I wanted to capture a disorienting mix of elements, visuals and optics to depict the illusion (literally). So if you excuse my bad pun and look closely, you’ll notice the abstract optical illusion in the column, of a little figurine hiding in plain sight, and the butterfly that's morphed into the petals. Ironically symbolising liberation in transformation–ironic, because it's hidden.
Just like a dream can fool you, confuse you, oddly empower you or inspire you. It can hide, or reveal, in distortions or in plain sight, and just like its’ title, the visual is also a play on hidden meanings out in the open.
The rest is up to you to decipher.
