The visions are the basis for big series of
aquarels. In this way the dreams
are being presented in film-like sequences which are related to the dream
experience itself and do not exist as separate pictures. It is not by accident that the film
producers stress the importance of dreams so much, as for example Ingmar
Bergman and our own Nils Gaup do. Ingmar Bergman said that a dream is “a light from our inner
landscape”. Einar Magne Flø could
easily agree to that.
Dream art in the old times and nowadays
There are many examples of artists in the old times
and nowadays who have brought the tradition further, and searched for
inspiration, newness and insight in the dreams. They can make use of a part of a dream, a landscape or a
constellation of figures or special types of dreams as for example
nightmares. We know these from
(among others) the pictures of Fransisco de Goya (1745-1828). The flying dream can be found in
illustrations of the Hindu wisdom books (Bhagavata Purana), and modern painters
such as Chagall. The surrealistic
motive of the dream experience has been used particularly by Salvador Dali and
de Chirico. In modern graphics,
Jean Arp is a dream-painter.
Dreams captured by a Scandinavian painter
An artist who consciously takes a chance to focus his
attention on the inside, and seeks to write down and recreate the dream
experience, is often faced with a challenge of considerable resistance. The experience might demand a totally
new form of expression, whether it concerns a performer of literature, music or
pictorial art. But the reward of
“completing the race” can be a glimpse and a vision into a new, unlimited
dimention. And the artist might
succeed in bringing something out of “the darkness and sleep” that mankind has
never heard or seen before. Perhaps this is what we call inspiration? In all cultures that we know of, there are people who
have made use of dreams consciously in the process of creation. They
went into the dream, and came out
of it with clear ideas of sculptures, masks, textile art, buildings,
shield
signs, songs, dances and sand paintings, etc. Among these, there were
obviously those presenting a better
talent and quality than others.
Those were the ones we could call professional artists nowadays.
Visions connected with crucial existential questions
From my knowledge of the Norwegian history of art,
Einar Magne Flø is unique as a dream-painter. He is unique both because he writes down in details what his
dreams are about, but also because of the way he uses them as a basis for his
art. The Indians would call these
dreams, - the ones that Flø uses, -“the big dreams”: Visions connected with
crucial existential questions.
Dreams made visible
So far, Einar Magne Flø has presented five large
series of dream pictures, some of them in books and accompanied by Norwegian
and English text. Flø is a
perfectionist as an artist, and does not follow the shifting trends and tendencies. He cultivates his own form of
expression which is easily recognizable by others. The dream series are know among those specially interested
in them, and only the present sale of two art portifolios allows the pictures
to reach the public on a larger scale. People with wider interests can study the books “The Dream of the Pope
and the Mountain” and “Silent Witnesses”, and of course see a big dream series
exhibition in Ulsteinvik, to be presented from 1 July to 15 August 1994.