CHASING MY DREAMS, 2023.

Drawing (colored pencil) on paper

In Chasing My Dreams, I present a compelling visual metaphor for aspiration, vulnerability, and the human pursuit of transcendence. Executed with colored pencil on black paper, the composition juxtaposes a hyperrealistic astronaut reaching outward into the void with an anatomically rendered human heart—transformed through the addition of angelic wings. The use of black paper as a ground intensifies the luminosity of the white and colored pencil work, evoking the vastness and emptiness of space, while simultaneously grounding the scene in an emotional register.

The astronaut, meticulously detailed and rendered in a state of zero gravity, stretches one gloved hand toward the viewer. The visor of the helmet reflects a golden, dreamlike landscape—possibly the imagined destination of the dream itself. This element introduces a layered reflection: the interiority of the dreamer, the external object of desire, and the existential distance between them.

Opposite this figure, a large, anatomically correct human heart floats in space, partially fused with a set of wings. The wings are symbolic—representing freedom, hope, or the spiritual ascent inherent in pursuing a dream. Their delicacy contrasts with the muscular, visceral form of the heart, suggesting a tension between the ethereal and the corporeal, the imaginative and the physical.

The composition is unified by the visual rhythm of the oxygen tubes, which loop around the canvas in an infinity-like curve. This visual motif suggests an endless cycle of striving, a continuous loop of longing and motion that defies final resolution. The connection between the astronaut and the heart—via the shared visual language of the tubes—further reinforces the idea that our dreams are sustained by what is most vital, most vulnerable within us.

Chasing My Dreams can be read as a meditation on the limits of ambition and the beauty of striving. It proposes that to dream is not merely to fantasize, but to risk exposure—to float untethered in the hope that something impossible might still be reached.