Born 1966 in Toronto, Canada, Raquel
Rivera received her B.F.A. from York University in 1987. Her
visual art practice includes drawing, book arts, collaborative art
projects and writing. Her work has appeared in journals, exhibitions
and Web art festivals. She co-founded the art/technology web site
sitedish.com, and the review e-zine "In My Hysterical
Opinion" (www.sitedish.com/imho). Raquel also creates and
publishes artist books under her own imprint "Small Books."
Artist's Statement
My drawings depict significant moments;
of peace, of pain, of wish, of realization. These moments often arrive
through the landscapes and characters of my dreams. Dreams offer
representational symbols irresistible to a creative person - from the
sublime, to the ludicrous, to both at the same time. They provide me
with a surreal tunnel into the blurry subtleties of what strikes me as
the truth, in a given moment.
As I plunder my own subconscious for
material, I also honor the dream. I believe this keeps the tunnel
between sleep and waking nice and clear, for future wisdom and future
work.
"Untitled (Bedroom)" was from
a dream of a huge old house that had been converted into a shabby
rooming house-hotel. I traveled from room to room, each one held an
amazing little scene - the epitome of someone's life/soul. I was
planning to draw each room to make a series, but ran out of steam
after two drawings.
"Ho hum" was an image that
came to me just before I woke up. I had just been fired from a
part-time job. I was happy for the release and worried about my lack
of income. At the same time, I had been through this so many times in
the past years that I was also feeling bored and blasé about my sense
of helplessness, my lack of "future." So she's swinging
around and around by her toes, way high, she's not afraid, she's not
exhilarated, she's used to it by now.
