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The Other Side of Reality

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Jane Callister discusses her work The Other Side of Reality,a new series of intermedia works that explore the surreal experience of the half awake state when you know you are still dreaming but occupy a liminal space where reality and unreality coexist.

Image courtesy of interviewee. May 12, 2024

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This video video is a reflective commentary by an artist discussing their evolution and experimentation within different artistic media throughout their career as a painter. They emphasize stepping outside their comfort zone to explore ideas in sculpture, installations, and drawing, ultimately leading to a hybrid form that combines multiple mediums into a single piece. The artist presents a recent project titled "The Other Side of Reality," featuring distorted figures in surreal landscapes that evoke themes of environmental crisis and personal psychology.

The artist expresses interest in liminal spaces, describing them as transitional areas that challenge viewers' perceptions of reality. The character's journey in the artwork suggests both isolation and connection amid a tumultuous world, prompting interpretations ranging from epic narratives to reflections on love and resilience. The artist connects their work to personal memories and experiences from childhood, particularly in relation to their upbringing and the power of memory.

Additionally, the artist reflects on the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown, during which they shifted from large-scale paintings to intimate smaller drawings and sculptures, exploring themes of nostalgia and identity through film and media. Lastly, they emphasize their commitment to capturing emotional experiences in their work while addressing pressing issues like climate change, creating a dialogue that resonates with contemporary societal challenges.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.195 --> 00:03.375
As a painter for most of my career,

00:03.565 --> 00:05.615
I've often stepped out of the comfort zone

00:05.755 --> 00:10.295
to explore related themes in different media, sort

00:10.295 --> 00:12.935
of asking myself, how can I embody the same idea

00:12.955 --> 00:15.295
as a sculpture or an installation or a drawing?

00:16.155 --> 00:19.415
Um, and how can I express different meanings

00:19.455 --> 00:20.455
through those forms?

00:21.075 --> 00:23.535
So my early paintings,

00:24.085 --> 00:27.135
combine various vigorous brush strokes and cord

00:27.135 --> 00:30.255
and spilled paint to suggest sort of landscape formations,

00:31.195 --> 00:34.535
that then later involve sculptural forms juxtaposed

00:34.535 --> 00:36.095
with them into installations.

00:36.435 --> 00:39.655
So fast forward to the present to the other side of reality.

00:40.515 --> 00:44.375
Um, you'll see how this juxtaposition

00:44.375 --> 00:45.775
of forms has mutated

00:45.915 --> 00:47.935
and collapsed into a single object,

00:48.285 --> 00:49.935
basically a draped curtain.

00:50.555 --> 00:54.095
So I've combined the sculptures with paintings

00:54.095 --> 00:55.095
as the background,

00:55.875 --> 00:59.855
and then those, small sculptures in front

00:59.855 --> 01:02.815
of those paintings and digitally printed them onto fabric.

01:03.635 --> 01:06.495
Um, and so I've kind of forced the past

01:06.595 --> 01:07.935
and present my old work

01:07.935 --> 01:12.335
and new work, into, sort of defying,

01:13.155 --> 01:16.215
the present explicitly

01:16.675 --> 01:19.055
and defying a singular medium.

01:19.355 --> 01:21.575
So instead of them being paintings

01:21.575 --> 01:24.855
and sculptures shown together, they are painting sculptures,

01:24.885 --> 01:28.535
photographs, and curtains, all in one thing.

01:29.315 --> 01:33.655
Um, so the final result is a sort of hybrid form

01:33.885 --> 01:36.095
with multifaceted interpretations.

01:36.835 --> 01:40.775
So, for example, in the current project, the other side

01:40.775 --> 01:43.095
of reality, we see this distorted figure

01:43.555 --> 01:47.095
who appears lost in an apocalyptic landscape,

01:47.095 --> 01:50.575
suggesting both an environmental climate crisis as well

01:50.575 --> 01:52.535
as a psychological mind space.

01:53.275 --> 01:54.775
So we follow the character's journey

01:54.775 --> 01:57.135
through different physical and emotional terrains.

01:57.555 --> 01:59.295
So they're surrealist in nature.

02:00.075 --> 02:02.815
And I'm interested in the notions of liminal space

02:03.555 --> 02:06.535
and the context of art practice.

02:06.535 --> 02:09.935
It's often viewed as a theoretical gap,

02:10.115 --> 02:13.535
in psychology it's more considered a mental limbo,

02:14.075 --> 02:16.615
and then in reality, it's often depicted as a sort

02:16.615 --> 02:17.775
of hallway or corridor.

02:18.715 --> 02:22.535
So I kind of think of this character as being, has gone

02:22.535 --> 02:24.815
through the liminal space into another space.

02:25.355 --> 02:30.295
And, that kind of changes. As I move through the series.

02:30.955 --> 02:32.735
By picturing the impossible,

02:33.095 --> 02:35.095
I am presenting imaginary spaces

02:35.885 --> 02:37.815
that the viewer will interpret themselves.

02:38.195 --> 02:41.055
Um, but I provide clues such as like cliffs

02:41.155 --> 02:44.015
and branch like tendrils that guide the audience to sort

02:44.015 --> 02:45.375
of accept them as landscapes,

02:45.955 --> 02:47.295
and then the figure perhaps

02:47.435 --> 02:49.895
as a protagonist in an epic film.

02:50.435 --> 02:52.175
Um, or they could be read as sort

02:52.175 --> 02:54.535
of film stills from an animation.

02:55.275 --> 02:56.655
Um, so the order

02:56.715 --> 02:58.815
of viewing them will suggest certain narratives.

02:59.010 --> 03:00.725
For example, the first image

03:00.725 --> 03:03.925
of the series shows a disheveled man with a surrealist rose

03:04.025 --> 03:07.845
for his head coming towards us across a snowy field.

03:08.635 --> 03:11.485
Then the next image shows him standing on a precipice.

03:12.235 --> 03:15.525
Then he emerges from what appears to be a river of fire,

03:16.105 --> 03:19.045
and then returning again past charred branches.

03:19.705 --> 03:21.685
So as the narrative unfolds,

03:22.345 --> 03:25.445
we then see a second character entered the new environment,

03:25.945 --> 03:28.925
a female figure dancing through a turbulent storm.

03:29.585 --> 03:32.685
So both characters are lost in their own worlds,

03:32.775 --> 03:34.245
until they stumble upon each other

03:34.625 --> 03:38.205
and escape to a sort of no man's land, a liminal space

03:38.655 --> 03:40.645
where the vistas have disappeared

03:40.645 --> 03:43.085
and they're just floating in a white void.

03:43.665 --> 03:46.845
Um, so this could be interpreted as a love story,

03:46.905 --> 03:50.685
or as the last humans on earth after a cataclysmic event.

03:51.145 --> 03:53.965
Um, so on the other side of reality, via the blank canvas,

03:54.075 --> 03:57.685
they now have a new space to invent a new reality.

03:58.165 --> 04:02.885
I think it does it through, a visual context so that

04:04.355 --> 04:07.735
if you imagine it as a series of film stills

04:08.565 --> 04:11.535
with certain stills removed so

04:11.535 --> 04:14.335
that you jump from one place to another place.

04:15.235 --> 04:19.215
Um, and the idea of the liminal being that in-between stage,

04:19.275 --> 04:22.255
that's, not anywhere, right?

04:22.355 --> 04:26.815
So that white void that I use between the failed male figure

04:26.815 --> 04:28.575
and the female figure is that liminal space

04:28.575 --> 04:31.895
where they're not, connected to reality anymore.

04:32.495 --> 04:35.455
The man's influence actually began in an earlier series

04:35.455 --> 04:37.055
called Found in Translation,

04:38.195 --> 04:42.025
which included my abstracted landscape paintings,

04:42.025 --> 04:44.905
accompanied by, related sculptures.

04:44.905 --> 04:46.585
But they were placed on pedestals.

04:47.205 --> 04:51.425
Um, and it was initiated by a trip that I made

04:51.425 --> 04:52.865
to the olive man where I grew up.

04:53.485 --> 04:56.585
Um, and I collected images of landscapes

04:56.895 --> 04:59.105
that resembled paintings I'd already done.

04:59.125 --> 05:01.865
It was really interesting to see how going back there,

05:02.385 --> 05:06.185
I realized that, you know, my, the power of memory

05:06.245 --> 05:08.105
to inform my earlier work.

05:08.805 --> 05:13.545
Um, and so the dialogue between the forms suggest a contrast

05:13.545 --> 05:16.185
between the imagery and the concrete.

05:16.845 --> 05:19.145
Um, in a large scale

05:20.065 --> 05:23.585
abstract painting I made called Wild In the Winnows,

05:23.765 --> 05:27.505
it loosely resembled a sort of chaotic windswept landscape,

05:27.825 --> 05:30.345
reminiscence of the stormy landscapes of my childhood.

05:31.285 --> 05:32.985
Um, comprising

05:33.005 --> 05:36.265
of a s sculpted crow made from black pipe cleaners,

05:36.385 --> 05:38.705
A beak cut from an orange caution cone

05:39.125 --> 05:43.865
and three wire legs resting on a painted sty on mountaintop.

05:45.165 --> 05:48.665
And the three Legg symbol, which appears a lot in my work,

05:49.285 --> 05:51.665
is part of the Isle of Band's flag.

05:51.735 --> 05:55.105
It's on their currency, it's on their architectural forms.

05:55.335 --> 05:56.585
It's a three Legg symbol,

05:57.105 --> 05:58.105
Uh, like it's running.

05:58.865 --> 06:03.485
And, the inscription on it means whichever way you throw

06:03.485 --> 06:04.805
me, I'll still stand.

06:05.305 --> 06:06.805
And that's sort of the mans motto.

06:07.425 --> 06:10.045
Um, and I think has influenced a lot of the work

06:10.045 --> 06:13.845
that I've done, about those kinds of ideas of,

06:15.475 --> 06:17.675
resilience and persistence.

06:18.265 --> 06:22.315
It's the sort of emotional aspect of the work

06:22.385 --> 06:24.195
that runs throughout the series,

06:24.225 --> 06:25.435
even if they look different.

06:25.995 --> 06:27.515
I had a, a studio visit

06:27.585 --> 06:31.635
with an artist filmmaker a while ago, Andres Matoo,

06:32.175 --> 06:35.555
and he described the painting like a stage set from which

06:35.615 --> 06:37.915
all the actors had stepped off, stepped off,

06:38.015 --> 06:39.555
but left their emotions behind.

06:40.175 --> 06:44.115
So it's this psychological impact that my work explores,

06:44.695 --> 06:47.795
and it's kind of a metaphor for my own artistic journey,

06:47.865 --> 06:50.115
sort of, of invention and reinvention.

06:50.975 --> 06:54.155
Um, and I'm referring to, you know, in everybody's,

06:54.155 --> 06:55.835
in a way, personal experiences

06:55.975 --> 06:59.275
of living in this tumultuous world while searching

06:59.275 --> 07:00.835
for a connection that gives hope

07:00.855 --> 07:03.075
to transform reality into something better.

07:03.455 --> 07:06.555
I'm in the middle of additional characters

07:06.735 --> 07:08.035
for the other side of reality,

07:08.255 --> 07:11.075
so I can expand the narrative even further.

07:11.815 --> 07:16.435
Um, but I'm also working on a series of life size scale,

07:16.815 --> 07:20.195
sculptures that are based on some drawings that I did

07:20.195 --> 07:21.635
during Covid lockdown.

07:22.255 --> 07:26.435
Um, and that was called Movie Minds Memories of Film,

07:26.435 --> 07:30.195
which I received a faculty grant from UCSB where I teach,

07:30.775 --> 07:34.595
and watching movies growing up,

07:35.575 --> 07:38.935
I realized during Covid that a lot

07:38.935 --> 07:41.655
of movie theaters were gonna be closing down,

07:41.675 --> 07:44.415
and it sort of promoted this sort of reminiscence.

07:45.035 --> 07:49.255
Um, so I just started drawing very small, nine

07:49.315 --> 07:53.455
by 12 inches, very intimate little drawings to sort

07:53.455 --> 07:57.205
of explore a response to that.

07:57.825 --> 08:01.365
Um, and incorporating images of movies

08:01.395 --> 08:03.165
that I grew up so with.

08:03.385 --> 08:06.005
So in a way, it's not as much about the movies

08:06.145 --> 08:09.325
as it is about a sort of self-portrait in a sense

08:09.435 --> 08:12.125
that these are images from my own memories.

08:12.505 --> 08:15.015
And so lockdown.

08:15.195 --> 08:18.615
You know, we were sort of, unable to spend time

08:18.685 --> 08:20.575
with friends outside our bubbles.

08:20.635 --> 08:23.895
We reached out through social media, you know, like Facebook

08:23.915 --> 08:26.815
and Instagram, TV series movies,

08:26.915 --> 08:29.615
and binge watching on Netflix, Hulu, and Prime,

08:29.635 --> 08:32.775
and a multitude of other available streaming platforms

08:32.775 --> 08:35.895
that inundate us now more than ever became the norm.

08:36.035 --> 08:39.295
So as an escape from this, many people sort

08:39.295 --> 08:41.975
of retreated into making bread or gardening

08:41.975 --> 08:43.335
or hiking in the mountains.

08:44.075 --> 08:45.975
Um, and others deprived

08:45.975 --> 08:47.935
of social interaction became depressed

08:47.935 --> 08:49.415
and in need of mental health care.

08:50.235 --> 08:53.015
Um, and I was unable to go to my studio on campus,

08:53.635 --> 08:54.815
to continue my

08:54.815 --> 08:56.005
Large scale paintings.

08:56.465 --> 09:00.285
So I made a sort of makeshift workspace on my kitchen table,

09:01.025 --> 09:03.805
and just started drawing

09:03.985 --> 09:08.965
and making tiny little sculptures, which then led to

09:09.705 --> 09:14.345
the, imaginary film Sills series.

09:14.685 --> 09:17.145
And now I'm working on giant sized sculptures.

09:17.145 --> 09:20.225
Based on those little drawings, it's usually quite joyful,

09:20.885 --> 09:24.465
to look at, and I want them to get that sensation,

09:24.525 --> 09:27.945
but I also want them to have an emotion, right?

09:28.125 --> 09:31.825
So, or to feel the emotion through the work, as much

09:31.985 --> 09:33.385
as read what it might mean.

09:33.485 --> 09:35.865
So the, you know, this, the ideas of,

09:35.895 --> 09:38.305
climate change is very prevalent in the work

09:38.635 --> 09:40.665
where the world is sort of falling apart.

09:41.125 --> 09:45.305
And then it's also about the psychological space of that

09:45.325 --> 09:47.945
and how we are as in humanity as far as

09:48.195 --> 09:49.505
where we are at today.

00:00 - As a painter for most of my career, I've often stepped out of the comfort zone to explore related themes in different media, sort of asking myself, how can I embody the same idea as a sculpture or an installation or a drawing? and how can I express different meanings

00:19 - through those forms? So my early paintings, combine various vigorous brush strokes and cord and spilled paint to suggest sort of landscape formations, that then later involve sculptural forms juxtaposed with them into installations. So fast forward to the present to the other side of reality. you'll see how this juxtaposition of forms has mutated and collapsed into a single object,

00:48 - basically a draped curtain. So I've combined the sculptures with paintings as the background, and then those, small sculptures in front of those paintings and digitally printed them onto fabric. and so I've kind of forced the past and present my old work and new work, into, sort of defying, the present explicitly and defying a singular medium.

01:19 - So instead of them being paintings and sculptures shown together, they are painting sculptures, photographs, and curtains, all in one thing. so the final result is a sort of hybrid form with multifaceted interpretations. So, for example, in the current project, the other side of reality, we see this distorted figure who appears lost in an apocalyptic landscape, suggesting both an environmental climate crisis as well as a psychological mind space.

01:53 - So we follow the character's journey through different physical and emotional terrains. So they're surrealist in nature. And I'm interested in the notions of liminal space and the context of art practice. It's often viewed as a theoretical gap, in psychology it's more considered a mental limbo, and then in reality, it's often depicted as a sort of hallway or corridor. So I kind of think of this character as being, has gone

02:22 - through the liminal space into another space. And, that kind of changes. As I move through the series. By picturing the impossible, I am presenting imaginary spaces that the viewer will interpret themselves. but I provide clues such as like cliffs and branch like tendrils that guide the audience to sort of accept them as landscapes, and then the figure perhaps as a protagonist in an epic film.

02:50 - or they could be read as sort of film stills from an animation. so the order of viewing them will suggest certain narratives. For example, the first image of the series shows a disheveled man with a surrealist rose for his head coming towards us across a snowy field. Then the next image shows him standing on a precipice. Then he emerges from what appears to be a river of fire, and then returning again past charred branches.

03:19 - So as the narrative unfolds, we then see a second character entered the new environment, a female figure dancing through a turbulent storm. So both characters are lost in their own worlds, until they stumble upon each other and escape to a sort of no man's land, a liminal space where the vistas have disappeared and they're just floating in a white void. so this could be interpreted as a love story, or as the last humans on earth after a cataclysmic event.

03:51 - so on the other side of reality, via the blank canvas, they now have a new space to invent a new reality. I think it does it through, a visual context so that if you imagine it as a series of film stills with certain stills removed so that you jump from one place to another place. and the idea of the liminal being that in-between stage, that's, not anywhere, right? So that white void that I use between the failed male figure and the female figure is that liminal space

04:28 - where they're not, connected to reality anymore. The man's influence actually began in an earlier series called Found in Translation, which included my abstracted landscape paintings, accompanied by, related sculptures. But they were placed on pedestals. and it was initiated by a trip that I made to the olive man where I grew up. and I collected images of landscapes that resembled paintings I'd already done.

04:59 - It was really interesting to see how going back there, I realized that, you know, my, the power of memory to inform my earlier work. and so the dialogue between the forms suggest a contrast between the imagery and the concrete. in a large scale abstract painting I made called Wild In the Winnows, it loosely resembled a sort of chaotic windswept landscape, reminiscence of the stormy landscapes of my childhood. comprising

05:33 - of a s sculpted crow made from black pipe cleaners, A beak cut from an orange caution cone and three wire legs resting on a painted sty on mountaintop. And the three Legg symbol, which appears a lot in my work, is part of the Isle of Band's flag. It's on their currency, it's on their architectural forms. It's a three Legg symbol, like it's running. And, the inscription on it means whichever way you throw me, I'll still stand.

06:05 - And that's sort of the mans motto. and I think has influenced a lot of the work that I've done, about those kinds of ideas of, resilience and persistence. It's the sort of emotional aspect of the work that runs throughout the series, even if they look different. I had a, a studio visit with an artist filmmaker a while ago, Andres Matoo, and he described the painting like a stage set from which

06:35 - all the actors had stepped off, stepped off, but left their emotions behind. So it's this psychological impact that my work explores, and it's kind of a metaphor for my own artistic journey, sort of, of invention and reinvention. and I'm referring to, you know, in everybody's, in a way, personal experiences of living in this tumultuous world while searching for a connection that gives hope to transform reality into something better.

07:03 - I'm in the middle of additional characters for the other side of reality, so I can expand the narrative even further. but I'm also working on a series of life size scale, sculptures that are based on some drawings that I did during Covid lockdown. and that was called Movie Minds Memories of Film, which I received a faculty grant from UCSB where I teach, and watching movies growing up, I realized during Covid that a lot

07:38 - of movie theaters were gonna be closing down, and it sort of promoted this sort of reminiscence. so I just started drawing very small, nine by 12 inches, very intimate little drawings to sort of explore a response to that. and incorporating images of movies that I grew up so with. So in a way, it's not as much about the movies as it is about a sort of self-portrait in a sense that these are images from my own memories.

08:12 - And so lockdown. You know, we were sort of, unable to spend time with friends outside our bubbles. We reached out through social media, you know, like Facebook and Instagram, TV series movies, and binge watching on Netflix, Hulu, and Prime, and a multitude of other available streaming platforms that inundate us now more than ever became the norm. So as an escape from this, many people sort of retreated into making bread or gardening

08:41 - or hiking in the mountains. and others deprived of social interaction became depressed and in need of mental health care. and I was unable to go to my studio on campus, to continue my Large scale paintings. So I made a sort of makeshift workspace on my kitchen table, and just started drawing and making tiny little sculptures, which then led to

09:09 - the, imaginary film Sills series. And now I'm working on giant sized sculptures. Based on those little drawings, it's usually quite joyful, to look at, and I want them to get that sensation, but I also want them to have an emotion, right? So, or to feel the emotion through the work, as much as read what it might mean. So the, you know, this, the ideas of, climate change is very prevalent in the work where the world is sort of falling apart.

09:41 - And then it's also about the psychological space of that and how we are as in humanity as far as where we are at today.

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