Northport, NY– Haven Gallery is pleased to present “In Limbo” a solo exhibition of new work by Northport based artist Nicolas Bruno. Following his first highly successful solo show, “Between Realms” at Haven Gallery in 2016, “In Limbo” is Bruno’s second solo show here and features a collection of drawings, sculptures, editioned photographs and unique prints that continue to chronicle his anxiety steeped affliction of sleep paralysis. “In Limbo” is an ongoing journey and visual exploration of the darkest recesses of Bruno’s mind as he rebuilds and reenacts these images stemming from his nightmares. This inclusion of sculpture in this collection reveals the artists evolutionary growth in medium as he continues to transcend the imagery and emotion from his dream to create an even more empathetic and immersive environment.
“In Limbo” represents and records each step of Bruno’s cathartic journey from drawing the dream the moment he awakens, to building sets and costumes and ultimately inserting himself into the majority of these roles. Each aspect allows for therapeutic healing as Bruno seizes control over these common anxieties of fear, solitude, and pursuit that permeate both our sleeping and waking hours. Bruno seizes control of these nightmares and anxieties while taking his subconscious odyssey one step further through empathy and collective connection.
Nicolas Bruno has been experiencing sleep paralysis for nearly twelve years. Sleep paralysis is a common phenomenon occurring in between wakefulness and sleep, in which the body becomes immobile. This realization of inescapability causes the individual to become plagued by terror laden hallucinations. These frightening experiences infect the senses yet the ability to move or escape is not possible as the body itself remains frozen throughout the episode. Through the advice of a teacher, Bruno found a means of subduing the hauntings of his night terrors through creative expression. Recreating scenes from his hallucinations has allowed him to seize control of the danger and confront his antagonists on his own terms.
Growing up in a waterside town, Bruno’s images are influenced by memories of spending time by the sea, in the marshlands and amidst sprawling fields. His Italian heritage inspires his choice in titles while his admiration of art history plants subliminal seeds of artist tributes throughout his imagery. Nostalgia thinly laces his visions and imagery as darker embodiments of entrapment, being chased and secrecy bespeak a more prevailing role. Symbolism, dualities and the reoccurring motifs of obstructed vision, anonymity and being hunted dominate much of his work. Yet traces of hope and liberation can be noted as well. A sense of ambiguity subsists amongst these plagues of anxiety through the binary association of Bruno’s most archetypal elements. The water which bounds also saves; the ladders which lose much of their function while underwater still allow for ascension. A favorable reminder that even in the darkest of moments, hope and possibility lurk in the recesses of the harrowing.
Nicolas Bruno studied at Purchase College of New York, where he received his BFA in Photography in 2015. His studio practice is based in Northport, New York, where he photographs and fabricates props for his compositions. Bruno weaves together his terrifying experiences of Sleep Paralysis with surreal self portraiture in a therapeutic translation of night terror to image. His constructed worlds of uncertainty exist on plane between waking and sleeping, where he is tormented by a physical embrace of the subconscious and its perils, all while being paralyzed in bed. Influences of 19th century Romanticists, historical texts of occultism, and dream symbology lace each composition with various visual dialogues of the macabre.
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An opening reception will be held for the artist on Saturday, February 23rd, 2019 from 6 – 8pm at Haven Gallery. Nicolas Bruno will be present. Haven Gallery is located at 155 Main St., The Carriage House Square, Suite 4, in Northport, NY 11768
