We Live Inside a Dream

We Live Inside A Dream is Atkinson's debut gallery show, showcasing photography exploring the unusual and, at points, surreal in Indianapolis. Joel uses photography as his medium since “Photography can take the real world and make it recontextualize it, with or without context, allowing for things to be humorous or confusing.”

“I was at the Circle, and I was like, I'm going to take cool pictures of the Soldiers and Sailors monument, and it will be so cool. I spent like half an hour taking pictures of this and thought these suck, I hate this. I wasted my time going downtown and then walking back to my car; I looked down and saw that [the ice cream on the ground]."

The Muse Visiting During The Act Of Creation

photograph

11x17

You shouldn't wait to create art only after you've been struck with a superb idea; oftentimes, the superb idea comes to you during creation. At least, that's what Joel Atkinson thinks. It's as Roger Ebert, a renowned film critic, famously said, "The muse visits during the act of creation, not before." An idea quite prevalent in Atkinson's piece "The Muse Visiting During the Act of Creation" (the ice cream on the ground) was taken while Joel was photographing something completely different and came upon his muse. The title also clearly refers to the critic's famous quote.

Joel's work is ironic in this way, focusing on randomness despite pre-planning for other works of forced creation. Because of this, Atkinson focuses on observance when taking photos, allowing for moments for "the muse" to appear when working either with his iPhone or more planned photos with his camera. 

This show and Atkinson's work take the mundane and allow us to view the more unusual parts of our lives. They show the dream-like wandering we can do daily, seeing out-of-place objects yet somehow becoming the most recognizable to our city's identity. 

The show can be viewed in the City Gallery throughout July during gallery hours: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is also available for viewing in our online gallery through August.