In Heating Up to Dream, Adam Weekley constructs a personal folklore born of memory and fantasy, of desire and science. Hibernation becomes an allegory for psychological and emotional hiding, avoidance, self-preservation, exploration and healing. The visual vocabulary employed is couched in the genre of fairy tales, utilizing ornate decorative elements and animal symbolism.

Search for solace is a universal impulse. The installation is intended as a fantastic solution to that longing. The Hibernation Box and Dreaming Cap represent artifacts of a past and future activity. The viewer is presented with these objects and invited to imagine their own involvement in a fictitious ritual. Implicating the viewer, engaging their desire to participate is the artist’s primary concern. The luxurious interior of the Hibernation Box is visually accessible, offering the promise of physical and psychological respite.

The voyeurism of the work is most explicit in its invitation to glimpse private dreams held captive in the piece Dreaming Cap. Tiny dioramas, photographs and manipulated spaces contained within birdhouses represent the dreams of a past user. A simple wool cap is transformed into a dramatic headdress with references to ritual costume and science-fiction imagery.

The triptych Divine Torpor is meant to further develop the drama of the installation. The painting functions as a devotional image in a traditional triptych format utilized in altarpieces. The hovering acorn and shed antlers reference processes of regeneration and rebirth.