Luminous Wonder
Online Exhibition by Richard Kooyman
Luminous Wonder brings together a new body of paintings by Richard Kooyman born from more than a year of dream work, meditation, writing, and deeper attention to the unconscious. Working alongside a Jungian therapist, Richard began recording his dreams and found that the practice gradually intensified his approach to painting.
The collection of work moves between waking and dreaming, darkness and illumination, memory and the present moment.
Luminous Wonder
“The moon at night shines through a Courbet green atmosphere of trees. Color is barely perceptual, and the shapes of individual trees meld into masses. Moths move through warm moist air; the sound of crickets and wings beating. Maybe it is a bat or an owl. Mysterious rustles in the undergrowth; below the moon is a small, still pond fragrant with wet leaves.
Drawing on a year of dream work, the paintings that make up Luminous Wonder are searching, asking, and wayfinding in ambiguous memory spaces. The work prioritizes the poetic process of uncovering an experience and making generous space for uncertainty, a poiesis or a “bringing-forth” of something that did not exist before. I love this idea of bringing forth. It is these unknown parts which did not exist before that thrill me the most.”
- Richard Kooyman
We’re grateful for the opportunity to share the world of Luminous Wonder with our gallery supporters. We hope these paintings invite you to linger in a natural world where even darkness can illuminate, memory can shift, and something unknown can be brought forth.
Luminous Wonder Works
“A year ago, I began writing down my dreams, and not only did my psyche indeed have a lot to tell me, but the practice of recording these dreams has intensified the way I approach making paintings. I realized that I was focusing too much of my energy on thinking and not enough on being in my body, where feelings reside and are perceived. By working to be less deterministic in my life and embracing ambiguity, I found that my painting practice deepened. Now, when I begin a painting, I do less planning and thinking in my mind about what I want it to be like, and I allow internalized colors and forms to develop. I'm surprised at what generates. Immediate images, objects, birds, and weather appear, linking what I love most in my waking life and dreams.”
-Richard Kooyman
Oil on canvas by Richard Kooyman
16 × 20in
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