The Dream

John Gruenwald

The Dream presents a figure in a darkened space with a filtering light - of the moon or the flickering neon lights of a city just beyond - illuminating her solid, curving form. In this dreamscape the inscrutable gaze of the portrait sitter meets the viewer in an expression that both invites and shuns directed attention. Perhaps she is deep in thought, or perhaps she herself is dreaming.

Gruenwald’s affinity for the physical expression of stone lithography and the richness of oil painting is displayed in the substantiveness of form and color in The Dream. The figure appears carved from stone herself, and though he has not painted directly on the piece, his use of heavily layered ink is as lush as oil paint.