Department of Fine and Performing Arts

Reese Harrison

Trapped in the Mind

Thesis Statement

The senior thesis "Trapped in the Mind" was created to reflect recurring dreams. The thesis is
built upon a film and my own paintings, both depicting recurring dreams that I have had. The
film shows a man trying to get to another floor of a building, but he is stuck on one floor. No
matter how much he tries to leave that floor, he just returns to it. With each attempt of escape,
the floor changes slightly each time, being subtle at first then drastically. The paintings are an
order of events leading to what appears to be an apocalypse, followed by a resolution. The
meaning behind the paintings show how a bad state of mind can have a serious effect on one's
health, including and especially recurring dreams. One landscape after another shows subtle
surrealist changes being that some otherworldly entity is present, or the land itself is marred by
the presence of the red sun, which is present in every painting in the series. The final piece
shows what seems to be a silver lining through the bleak nature of the works, and inspiring one
to be able to conquer the maze like caverns of the mind.

  • I am an artist who wishes to show my recurring dreams through my artwork. Having struggled through many different recurring dreams, and grappling with mental illness, art has always been an escape from my own mind. Like writing in a journal to make thoughts physical, my art shows the home of my mind through landscape paintings. My artwork is very multifaceted, but for my portfolio, My focus is on the surrealism of the mind and its relation to landscapes. Being my favorite kind of painting and drawing, Landscapes speak to me in volumes that enter the micro
    chasms of my mind and allow me to make the imagination physical.

"The Next Floor" by Reese Harrison from DFPA | Bowie State University on Vimeo.