The Aimless Meander: The creative process involved in composing Dr. Daydream Prescribes Aggressive Psychotherapy

Meditating on the concept of daydreaming conjures all kinds of stereotypes, mostly those perpetuated by pop culture and the associated canon of symbols established by TV, music, movies, and comics. A reclined child staring into the clouds and seeing shapes appear is the standard cliche, which I wanted to avoid.

Dr. Daydream Prescribes Aggressive Psychotherapy — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2022

When I decided to explore the concept of daydreams for a painting I began with the idea of a figure in a daydream state, emersed physically, into the stuff that daydreams are made of.
My initial figure took shape as an old man, eyes closed, lost in his imagination, represented by an eyeball floating in liquid, where his brain should have been.

Line work for the painting “Dr. Daydream Prescribes Aggressive Psychotherapy” by Stephen Gibb, 2002

Dr. Daydream

I christened him Dr. Daydream and I set about imagining his world. I envisioned a guide leading Dr. Daydream through his dream, which could be none other than his own brain. Astride his brain a jovial Humpty Dumpty takes his hand to help him navigate the bizarre landscape. Humpty steers the brain but is oblivious of his duty since he looks backwards instead of at the road ahead. This represents the meandering uncertainty of where a daydream will lead us. The journey is an adventure without destination.

From Dark to Light

I wanted Dr. Daydream moving away from the darkness and into the bright future ahead. This is kind of illustrating an escapist view of daydreaming. Rather than dealing with the foreboding darkness, his attention is directed away at the bright colours and the large happy face that dominates the right side above him. Mr. Moonlight looks down with sorrowful eyes as the Doctor moves away from the darkness of the woods and wilderness behind him.

Time Doesn’t Fly, it Floats Away

Dr. Daydream was wearing a wristwatch, but it has detached and is floating away. In a dream state, time has no domain over the dreamer…

Title Just Isn’t Cutting it

Things from here out started to get more and more associative and detached from the pure notion of daydreaming. I decided to expand the title to encompass the broadening scope of the content. Dr. Daydream Prescribes Aggressive Psychotherapy works better, and now adds more width for tangential exploration. The vast realm of psychology can now be conjured, and my diversions of whimsy can be excused away.

Walking is A Time-Space Activity

Dr. Daydream steps forward and his most recent footstep is ghosted by a bare foot stepping in sticky goo. My thought here was to represent a movement through time and the bare, primitive foot being a step back in evolution, contrasted with the present-time foot.

Protective Headgear Recommended for All

I like to insert interlocutors into the foreground of my paintings—seemingly detached observers helping the viewer link with the overwhelming weirdness going on behind. Enter Helmet Head.
Helmet Head is more concerned with the wondrous object in his grasp but helps add to the general mystery of the overall image.

Idea Thief

OK, sometimes I rehash an idea that I’ve used before and by that action, I become my own idea thief. Helmet Head has a socket in his dome, from which a slimy creep removes a lightbulb. Symbolism borrowed from cartoons and comics, probably dating back to Edison. I said I wanted to avoid symbolic cliches, but here is an exception.

A Phallic Rocket Becomes a Knife

In rough sketches I positioned a rocket in the sky above the good Doctor’s head, leaving a trail that swirled around his head, between his legs and to its beginnings, somewhere over and beyond the trees. As things progressed in the sketch, I decided to turn the rocket into a knife, a more aggressive phallus, and have it sail between his legs in a psychosexual trajectory but embed it into his brain. I’ll let you do your own psychoanalysis of this. A certain F word may help.

The Red Balloon

Another symbol of floating along…the balloon is a reference to the aimless meander of daydreaming. In this case the balloon drifts through the air and makes it impossible for a caretaker to keep Dr. Daydream’s head corked. His essence is released in a psychedelic burst of colour…setting the stage for the multicoloured right-hand side of the painting.

Building Out the Composition with Unencumbered Impulses

The basic image was composed pretty much as it was chronologically described above. At this point there was some need for smaller details and compositional elements to be added for balance and interest. The Brain crawls along the ground but is distracted by a skull with the cap removed and examines the contents as he pours it out. This could easily represent psychotherapy. The symbol for the Greek letter Psi is added to the knife, which is also widely understood as a symbol for psychology. Clouds form from stars and hearts in a cheesy reference to seeing shapes (Pareidolia) where they don’t really exist. A spaceship bears witness to the events below, representing a naïve or innocent bystander. Dr. Daydream’s left hand is grounded by a tap root, symbolizing the roots of everything with nature. He also wears an interesting signet ring of no real importance but will keep viewers challenging themselves to formulate a meaning. Human nature demands meaning from the things in its environment, however, there is no direct line to interpreting the painting “correctly”. Some symbolism may come easily to the viewer and the meaning may be more commonly held than others. The true joy is identifying things through your own idiosyncratic filters and biases and deriving your own meaning. My paintings give you permission to explore yourself by mulling over the images.

Back to Gallery

The post Aimless Meander: Dr. Daydream Prescribes Aggressive Psychotherapy appeared first on Stephen Gibb.

Last Days Of the Plague — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

The long history of art relating to plague can be traced from medieval times and the likes of Hieronymus Bosch to the irreverent doodling of pop surrealism art

After resisting the sort of automatic response that the year 2020 prompted—mainly as a result of the pandemic crisis of Covid-19, I finally relented.

There is only so much one can take with the onslaught of media and the reports that propagate fear and disseminate ignorance before you start to manifest a reaction. It was with fear and ignorance that this painting took root.

Basing the initial thoughts around the centrally positioned “troll under the bridge” I thought I could divide the painting into two halves, where the left represented fear and the right represented ignorance but that was just the launch pad.

A painting seldom blossoms from the core concept into a fully realised representation of that concept. It often transforms into something else as the idea incubates and I ponder the elements of the composition. This painting represents a prime example of that kind of deviation from the original whim—a transformation into something more ambitious with a broader scope of themes.

As well as the initial themes of ignorance and fear, the image now includes commentary on superstition, plague, decay, pollution, contamination and irresponsibility. Time to apply my brand of pop surrealism art to the painting

Breaking down the images

Safe as houses: What could be safer than isolation in your own home? The thing is, as we learned in 2020, you still need to interact with outsiders in the society and culture we have created. Bringing outside threat into the home is a concern and the fearful–looking house and house ablaze symbolizes that fear.

Protection: The prophylactic use of masks as protection from the virus is echoed in the plague-doctor crow and the deep-sea diving suit, both fearful enough to wear protective clothing but still threatened by contamination. The crow, and diver being attacked by the piranha were two of the first and original ideas. The crow tries to reinforce the crumbling wall oblivious to the poison gas dancing around his feet. The sun masks the smell of decay with a clothespin but the ineffective defence is futile against the underlying factor present in the “plague”.

The Plague: I wanted to represent the “plague” as a color and the antifreeze green or Mountain Dew yellow seemed perfect to symbolize it. Originally the source was to be from the troll, oozing from his nose and mouth, contaminating the water and by extension into the food and drink of the townspeople and leaching into the ecosystem as well. The locust, a symbol of plague, was an afterthought but was needed to balance the composition (as were the pumpkin, the bubbles and the Soviet-era missile)

I only drink when I’m drunk: The “villagers” are oblivious to the threats around them and they represent the ignorant aspect of my original concept. They drink to intoxication, without regard to what it is they are drinking and without any effort to protect themselves or others by wearing masks or socially distancing. This brash flouting of common sense leads to more contamination and perpetuates the vicious circle.

Always after me lucky charms: Ignorance can give birth to superstition. During the 17th century it was believed that plague was propagated by putrid air and that a beak-like mask filled with herbs, straw, and spices would offer protection—hence my plague-doctor crow. It was also believed that onions could ward off the infection!

It’s a gas: Playing off the miasma theory of plague propagation I used a poison gas canister attached to the locust to represent the idea of the plague being present in the air. Not only that but it is manifesting itself as a creepy clown that looms threateningly over the village. The mournful tree trunk also oozes a noxious gas that floats into the clouds, only to condense and return as a toxic raindrop.

Motherland of invention: Using the decaying Soviet-era missile was not a political statement. Being from the West, the threat during the Cold War was always the Soviet Union, so showing a relic from that era was reflexive. The idea of a neglected nuclear missile, rotting and contaminating the environment just seemed to fit with the vibe of the painting and as stated above, I needed something to compositionally balance the painting there.

Let’s get medieval: Our notion of plague often harken back to the Black Death and the stories that spring from that era. I wanted a little nod to that notion and the wooden cart, stone wall and cobblestones seemed to give the painting some medieval flavour.

I am the eggman: Yes, that’s me, recovering from a broken ankle while I painted this. I am vulnerable and frail as Humpty Dumpty, trying to ward off the plague by distancing myself from human contact (even further than usual).

Pop Surrealism Art: Yeah I know, WTF does that mean? It means people search the web for pop surrealism art and that ultimately brings them to me…

Back to Gallery

More about Stephen Gibb:

• Lowbrow Pop Surrealism Exhibit – Gag Me With a Toon

• Banksy Exhibit

• More On Pop Surrealism

• Trippie Redd Album Cover

The post Pop Surrealism Art, pandemic, plague and Covid-19? appeared first on Stephen Gibb.

Happy Surreal Peanut Butter

Happy Peanut Butter – Stephen Gibb, oil on panel, 2’x2′, 2016r

Return to main gallery

Thank you for joining us in the off-kilter world of Stephen Gibb, where surrealism and Mother Goose are turned on their heads. Take time to explore and ponder his mysterious paintings, that delve into the anxieties and joys of contemporary life, his musing on human behaviour, philosophy, and the innermost workings of his angular mind. Let’s hear from the artist himself…

Canadian Pop Surrealism meets Pop Art
(Or, at least a feeble attempt to excuse my behaviour to those present with good taste)
My artwork weaves an eclectic tapestry of cultural and social influences. At one moment it may make a
single-punch-line commentary on pop culture, while the next it may construct a complex and playful diorama
probing into the outer perimeters of human nature.

My work is often categorized as Canadian pop surrealism but I’d begrudgingly prefer to tag it as existential editorial cartoon realism, bubblegum surrealism, pop art, and or pop surrealism just because it sounds more intelligent, pretentious and funny at the same time. The work holds
Make sure to look for Happy Surreal Peanut Butter, pop art peanut butter, pop surrealism peanut butter, pop art cookie, pop surrealism cookie, pop art popsicle, pop surrealism popsicle and all the other fun images found at . If you have ever seen a happy surreal peanut butter sandwich then you have been bestowed with infinite good fortune and should buy a lottery ticket immediately. If you happen to eat a happy surreal peanut butter sandwich then your good fortune will be shared with everyone you come in contact with. Make sure to wash it down with a nice cold glass of fresh chocolate milk. Meditate on your favourite Canadian pop surrealist painter and all will be well.

Happy Surreal Peanut Butter

The post Happy Surreal Peanut Butter appeared first on Stephen Gibb.

Pop Art Peanut Butter

Pop Art Popsicle

Pop Art Reese Peanut Butter Cup

Pop Art Happy Candy

Pop Art Happy Cookie

Pop Art Donut

Pop Art Dorito

Pop Art Happy Pie

Pop Art Dopamine

Return to main gallery

Thank you for joining us in the off-kilter world of Stephen Gibb, where surrealism and Mother Goose are turned on their heads. Take time to explore and ponder his mysterious paintings, that delve into the anxieties and joys of contemporary life, his musing on human behaviour, philosophy, and the innermost workings of his angular mind. Let’s hear from the artist himself…

(Or, at least a feeble attempt to excuse my behaviour to those present with good taste)
My artwork weaves an eclectic tapestry of cultural and social influences. At one moment it may make a
single-punch-line commentary on pop culture, while the next it may construct a complex and playful diorama
probing into the outer perimeters of human nature.

My work is often categorized as pop surrealism but I’d begrudgingly prefer to tag it as existential editorial
cartoon realism, just because it sounds more intelligent, pretentious and funny at the same time. The work holds
a certain reverence and faithfulness to mimicking reality but leans far enough away to fall in the shadow of the
“uncanny valley*”, the area where the mind is unsettled by what looks real enough but couldn’t possible
be. It is in this realm, theoretically, that the mind’s gamma waves are super-stimulated and brain activity
resembles exploding fireworks. I resolve that this accounts for the broad reactions my work garners from observers,
that ranges from contemptuous dismissal to enthusiastic exuberance. We are all wired differently.

The medium is the method, which has been a faithful deployment of oil painting and traditional oil painting
techniques, such as glazing and the occasional dalliance into chiaroscuro. The richness achieved
by layers of thinned oil paint on wood panels always adds an interesting luminous vitality to the final
piece. Pop Surrealism meets Pop Art

My direction as of late has been to devote more to composing on the panels rather than in pre-sketches.
I’m intrigued by the more spontaneous and gratifying results of ideas presenting themselves in the process
rather than in the planning, hence the falloff in the recent output of sketches. Often a core image or
concept dictates subliminally as to how the composition manifests itself. pop art peanut butter, pop surrealism peanut butter, pop art cookie, pop surrealism cookie, pop art popsicle, pop surrealism popsicle,

Canadian Pop Surrealism meets Pop Art

Pop Surrealism meets Pop Art appeared first on Stephen Gibb.

Return to main gallery

Dopamine

Here we go round the prickly apple at 5 o’clock in the morning – Stephen Gibb, oil on panel, 2017

“Fun House of Phobias” — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel 2019

Pictorial Puzzles for a Post-human Paleontologist

Keeping it Together, Walking on Eggshells” — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2019

Caught, by Stephen Gibb, oil on panel, 36″ x 24″, 2018

Last Days Of the Plague — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

Frog Prince at the Gates of Decay, painting by Canadian surrealist Stephen Gibb, 48″ x 36″, oil on panel, 2017

The reluctant clown candidate held aloft by blind zealots

Software and Clockworks

Revenge of the sycophant scorned

Happy cookie

Cheesy Dorito

Happy Peanut Butter

Freaky Donut

Self-absorbed Popsicle

Reese Peanut Butter Cup

All I want’s to be left on a block of ice

Sympathy for the Rat King

Spinning plates

Keeping mum in the presence of a toxic personality

If I blow your mind, what will you do for me?

Frantic preservation of essence in the face of imminent contamination

One bad apple

Maniacal menace of the culture colossus on auto pilot

Laughing my fool head off

The cannibal bubblegum’s sugary lust of hidden truths

Chicken and the egg

The emperor’s new confection

Heavy thoughts

With the promise of chocolate Humpty gets duped by the clockwork carrot

Oh, Crap!

Dark side of the flaming moon

Mastery of the social graces and the maladroit tea party

Carl sleeps and dreams of being forever Jung

The thief exploits a temporary lapse in security

The sourdough dolly and her salivating solid-door ally choose either salad or surreal cereal as Sir Eel and Salvador Dali look on

Krampus in the box

Last of the carnivorous unicorns

Darkness falls on the whitebread world

Stephen Gibb Artist Statement
(Or, at least a feeble attempt to excuse my behaviour to those present with good taste)
My artwork weaves an eclectic tapestry of cultural and social influences. At one moment it may make a
single-punch-line comment on pop culture while the next it may construct a complex and playful diorama
probing into the outer perimeters of human nature.
My work is often categorized as pop surrealism but I’d begrudgingly prefer to tag it as existential editorial
cartoon realism, just because it sounds more intelligent and funny at the same time. The work holds
a certain reverence and faithfulness to reality mimicry but leans away enough to fall in the shadow of the
“uncanny valley*”, the area where the mind is unsettled by what looks real enough but couldn’t possible
be. It is in this realm, theoretically, that the mind’s gamma waves are super-stimulated and brain activity
resembles fireworks. I resolve that this accounts for the broad reactions my work garners from observers,
that ranges from contemptuous dismissal to enthusiastic exuberance. We are all wired differently.
The medium is the method, which has been a faithful deployment of oil painting and traditional oil painting
techniques, such as glazing and the occasional dalliance into chiaroscuro. The richness achieved
by layers of thinned oil paint on MDF panels always adds an interesting luminous quality to the final
piece.
My direction as of late has been to devote more to composing on the panels rather than in pre-sketches.
I’m intrigued by the more spontaneous and gratifying results of ideas presenting themselves in the process
rather than in the planning, hence the falloff in the recent output of sketches. Often a core image or
concept dictates subliminally as to how the composition manifests itself.
see stephengibb.com for more

Stephen Gibb Canadian Surrealism

Stephen Gibb Canadian Pop Surrealism

Stephen Gibb Canadian Pop Surrealism

The post Canadian Pop Surrealism by painter Stephen Gibb appeared first on Stephen Gibb.