Silver Tracery Of Dreams

'It Takes Two'  by Sylvia Convey. Oil stick/paper, 1988.

A woman with a resigned look sits on a rock by a midnight sea oblivious to a large fish with gaping jaws breaking the water beside her. Another woman talks to a mask while standing on a carpet. These images, initially startling and inexplicable, on closer study recall the confusions and dilemmas of interpersonal relationships. We all play multiple roles within the context of our private and public worlds, however these shifting personas are often unintegrated and a source of anxiety.

​Some of these images evoke the old question – What constitutes personality? Others chart the contours of desire and gratification. They do not depict the topography of everyday life but rather the silver tracery of dream where the events of the day are sifted and measured against our accumulated experience, hidden fears and secret expectations. These are challenging but rewarding pictures, mysterious yet accessible and all clothed in luxuriant, richly patterned surfaces.

Sylvia Convey’s images have a deep psychological resonance and allude to meanings which tantalize and disturb while remaining just beyond the grasp of rational understanding.
 
 Isabelle Whitton, Melbourne   1989