and ethereal quality and the medium allows her to explore various concepts within her body of work while remain- ing true to her very distinct style. Much like the exploration of her dreams over time, encaustic is archi- val and provides a way of preserving these discovered life lessons. Before the encaustic is applied, however, Gabriela uses various mediums like gouache, ink and graphite applied to watercolor paper to illustrate her dreamy stories. “Once I get what the dream means paintings become obvious. They’re like visions. They just strike.” The connection between symbolism and truth Whether expressed through land- scapes or surrealism, each piece is rich with layers of meaning and invitations to explore deeper levels of the self. For Gabriela, her art is all about authen- ticity starting first with her desire to express personal truth, but then to hopefully move the viewer closer to their own truth. “All of the ways in which I’m using the landscape or animals, I’m trying to reveal some universal truth about the human condition and what it is to find unconditional love and healing,” she said. All the things that are blocks to us thriving are revealed in my dreams and the dream symbolism becomes part of my visual language.” In this visual language, a landscape might represent the container of the soul. If that container has love, it will be vibrant and full of color. A rabbit may symbolize vulnerability whereas a bear might bring a fierceness or warrior en - ergy. Or, as in the example of her piece “Truth and Desire”, the paragon falcon and it’s been learned, the
artist spotlight gabriela aguilo
D reams are a curious phenomenon shared by most all humans––and they’ve perplexed the minds of many since nearly the beginning of human existence. For some, they seem like nonsensical musings of the mind. For others, dreams may hold answers or premonitions about the future, or they may represent insights into deep-seated fears and desires or messages from the divine. For artist Gabriela Aguilo, and other Jungians (those who follow the philoso- phies of Swiss psychologist and psycho- analyst Carl Jung), dreams hold power- ful messages, learnings and a pathway deeper into self realization. “Dreams bring us each unique cin- ematographic experiences with feel- ing––a story,” Gabriela said. “It’s in a cryptic language of our memories and stories from mythology, television and the collective conscious to explain something to us that we don’t know at exactly our moment of need with the thing we need to know to further our journey into our hearts, soul and passion, rather than living from the mind.” The interplay of dreamwork and artwork Gabriela has used her own cine- matographic experiences to explore new themes and realms of humanity. And her artwork has become the channel through which she’s able to express the messages communicated to her in her dreams––very similar to Jung’s philoso- phies on the link between art expression and healing. “Since my dreams inform me about myself and take me through waves of learning, it always comes out to a deeper understanding of who I am,” she said. “And those particular dreams are incredibly useful for paintings because they are universal symbols of love and wisdom for all of us.” With the influence dreams have on her work, it isn’t any surprise that Gabriela was called to encaustic as her medium. Encaustic paintings, which use heated, pharmaceutical-grade beeswax mixed with resin, have a dream-like
"Truth and Desire" 60" x 45"
represents truth. Still, Gabriela admits while some symbols may be universal, they can only hint at a truth and that truth will vary from person to person. “What a symbol means to me might be different for someone else,” she said. “It will still open up a question or feeling in them, but it will just be more personal to them. And I love that.”
think is pretty,” she said. “I’m trying to paint purely from my soul believing that it will resonate. Desire is a pow- erful thing. And their [the collector’s] heart is choosing something to go in their home that becomes something they need either to be reminded of or to open something up in them, or that simply speaks to them in some way.”
Watch Gabriela's interview here.
The message and the medium Though Gabriela has been a life- long artist, it was only a little over a decade ago that she made the leap to encaustic painting. She was crav- ing color, more freedom to express and a different kind of expression that suited her personal journey. That quest led her to encaustic and a new way to connect with herself and others. “I wanted to express the journey through my dreams to the Self with a capital “S” and to churn the ether for what is my personal voice,” she said. “To do that, I chose encaustic because it's very dreamy. I feel like it's one of the best things I ever did.” Gabriela wants people to feel something when they see her work. And she certainly has achieved that, having witnessed countless deep emotional reactions to her pieces. In some cases, people have been moved to tears, in others, a piece may simply create some sort of opening in them to explore a feeling more. “I refuse to paint to sell or what I
"The Crossroads Between Love and Longing" 60" x 45"
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Issue 1 | Summer 2023
Issue 1 | Summer 2023
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