Details

Object type

painting

Title

Dream Baby Dream

Artist/Maker

Rabiya Choudhry artist

Place Associated

Scotland, Edinburgh (place made)

Date

2016

Materials

acrylic on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 1000 mm x 1000 mm

Description

This vibrant painting has Choudrhy’s signature style of strong graphic painting with blocks of – in this case bright and bold – colour. She has a diverse range of influences on her style such psychedelic art, comic book art, album cover art, song lyrics, voodoo and folk art, b-movie film posters and cartoons.

In this painting the square canvas with a bold pink background is nearly completely filled by a person’s head. We can see inside this head which has five rooms over three levels. In each room there’s a sign saying what ‘area’ they are – Brain, Eye, Ear, Nosey and Mouthy Depts. There are texts within the painting; Dream Baby Dream in the brain, the teeth spell ‘suicide’ and below the head ‘Dream Forever’. The painting’s vibrant and cartoon style is at odds with a sense that all may not be well in this person’s head. Choudhry explores difficult and person themes in her work such as depression, shame, anxiety, guilt and fear, love and loss.

In 2019 Choudhry described the painting as such:

“The painting is of a wooden skull framed person stuck in a platform game of dreaming of a better future/tomorrow but still feels depressed and empty inside. I painted this after watching the BBC documentary Hypernormalisation by Adam Curtis. It’s about waking life feeling like a dream in the age of mass surveillance and post truth. The character has 5 eyes referencing the Five Eyes mass surveillance conglomerate and the feeling of being watched. It was also inspired by the Numbskulls character from the DC Thomson comics.”

The mouth forms a theatrical stage with teeth tattooed with the name of the band ‘suicide’ and a chill-pill is swallowed to take the edge off. The painting is named after the song ‘Dream Baby Dream’ by Suicide and has the lyrics ‘dream forever and ever, over and over again.

A girl in the brain looks up into the sky blue brain and comments on how beautiful a dream it is. A man in the ear department gets a fax to ‘go to the disco’ because dancing or listening to music is the best remedy. In the nosey area a man orders a vindaloo. Each character escapes from the reality it is faced with. The painting is bald and has a white glow from chemotherapy treatments.

Both this painting and House for the Holy are loosely based on my family.”

Dream Baby Dream was acquired through the Contemporary Art Society’s Rapid Response Fund in 2019 which was set up as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Three works were acquired, two paintings and a neon work. Although these works were created pre Covid-19 these particular works were selected as they can open up conversations through the lens of the pandemic. For example, both paintings use a family home, internal and external, to discuss multiple issues such as family dynamics, isolation or mental health. During the pandemic the UK was subjected to a lockdown where people couldn’t leave their homes, the impact of which may be felt for years to come.

Credit Line/Donor

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society through the Rapid Response Fund, 2020

ID Number

3781

Location

Gallery of Modern Art Gallery 4