Surrealist Jon Jaylo primarily credits his dreams for his peculiar oeuvre. “I derive most of my artistic concepts from personal experiences and stories of the people who are close to me,” he said in a 2023 interview at Basic Magazine.
“Almost all of my concepts come from my dreams, personal experiences and sometimes themes that currently surround us,” he added in a 2021 interview with Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.
The dreamlike quality of his work is evident in his 2009 Requiem. At first glance, nothing seems out of order. A woman stands in a dark, empty field with an abandoned piano behind her. She hugs herself solemnly, her eyes closed as she rests her head on her shoulders. However, look closely and something is amiss. Like a dream that seems normal except for one peculiar element, the woman in Jaylo’s Requiem sports on her back a small pair of angel wings. It is bizarre and almost nonsensical like most dreams are but Jaylo seamlessly blends it into reality, making the impossible look possible. The surreal meets the ordinary in his world with frequent references from the subconscious that may not be immediately noticeable to first-time viewers. In a way, his works are a visual diary of his dreams, an incredibly personal project to undertake.
Requiem, literally referring to the mass for the dead, is reminiscent of the bizarre dreams that leave us melancholic at the end. The cryptic symbolism is a maze we cannot decipher and yet, the emotions elicited are just as if it was real. Jaylo excels at prodding this crossroad; he plays at parallel dream worlds with one foot into the real and another into the surreal. (Hannah Valiente)
León Gallery wishes to thank the artist for confirming the authenticity of this lot