Allen Gallery is pleased to present Dreamscicle, an exhibition of works by Sharon Weiner. Dreamsicle is a collection of work from recorded dream sequences. In works like “Touch” and “Thinking of Him”, the extensive application of layers create a wonderfully languid distract to today’s concerns.

Weiner’s abstract work is remarkable in its ability to give a sense of depth and to create a contained, mysterious environment. Her work is an illusion of space that is highly imagined and nearly palpable. This suggestion of both a physically charged inner world is created through a complex artistic process. The rounded, organic forms in her pieces take shape in a field of a soft, single color shaded with tones of gray. Weiner works intuitively, with the forms coming from the unconscious. By pouring, spray-gunning, or using an airbrush, layers of black acrylic is applied with sanding done between layers. Shapes are added and eliminated as a tonal background is created. The final result is the illusion of deep space with a smooth glossy surface.

Weiner gathers inspiration from the transcendental tradition from postwar American abstraction. She cites her influences as Mark Rothko, Ross Bleckner, and Philip Taaffe. Her works are born from intense personal experiences which include both conscious and unconscious dynamics. Of her artistic process, Weiner says, “From a family of psychoanalysts, my direct and indirect exposure to the practice of psychoanalysis has been long and sustained, providing me with an unusual awareness of my own consciousness, interaction with the world, and dreams. As a result, I know better than to recount my experience in my art; instead, I give visual form to what experiencing my life feels like – indeed, to what awareness itself, an abstract concept, feels like.”