Sleepr

Year of birth: 1988.
Where do you live: Australia.
Your education: Masters of Interactive and Visual Art.
Describe your art in three words: Revealing the invisible.
Your discipline: Artist.
Website | Instagram

Your work deeply engages with the concept of hidden dimensions and other worlds. How do you translate these abstract ideas into visual art?

Strangely one of the most difficult things I’ve ever experienced is trying to document what some of these interdimensional objects look like. They are the most baffling, complex and exotic forms I’ve ever seen, or ever could imagine. They are so completely hyperdimensional that my mind actually has a very difficult time in comprehending them – and as such – a difficult time remembering what they look like. There’s an amnesia quality I’m constantly battling. I sketch and scribble, make mental notes, use memory techniques, verbally record diaries – anything to just get some of these qualities down.

Sleepr | The Bedroom Explorer | 2024

In your immersive performance at Art Basel Miami, you spent five days in an opaque chamber. How did the experience of isolation impact your perception of the ‘other side,’ and how did the public’s interaction through the red phone affect your artistic expression?

It was a really long and committed process – I made art continuously for 5 days, while wearing a mask, with bright lights focused on elevating the artist up. No one could see my identity, and yet I spoke with hundreds of people. I was completely hidden, and yet I was present and accessible to all. Thematically, my work is all about the artist documenting “the other side,” and so the box represents this, this moat for the viewer unable to reach over to. Most things in our life are easily accessible, and yet these spirit realms are very inaccessible – they are “hidden spaces.” It’s very symbolic and alchemical.

Sleepr | An Exotic Trade | 2024

You describe your art as a conduit to communicate the aesthetics of hidden realms. Can you elaborate on the role of shamanic practices and magic plants in your creative process?

Magic plants have been one of the only constants in my life, and I’ve explored them consistently for 20 years. They are sacred tools, and the role of the artist in my eyes is to document and channel the information they present – to be a conduit between the here and there. Despite having hundreds and hundreds of ceremonies, and experiencing more in this lifetime than many say they ever have, I feel as though I have explored not a single inch of the spirit world. It’s truly a remarkable place, filled with infinite wonder beyond our comprehension.

Sleepr | The Hidden Circus | 2024

Your projects often challenge the boundaries between anonymity and identity. How do you navigate these themes in both your digital works and performance art?

My work continually explores the intersection of anonymity and authenticity, and how these two sides of the coin chase and fuel the other. I think people see me wearing a mask and think initially – “he’s hiding who he is!” – but strangely, by wearing a mask I can actually be more authentic than in the real world. I think we all wear masks every day with whoever we speak to.

How do you balance the scientific research aspect of your work with its artistic expression?

There is a difficult and fine line between artistic representation and scientific truth. But just in the same way that anonymity and authenticity elude and discover each other in surprising ways, I feel the same endless woven nature exists between art and science. This polar spectrum isn’t as clear cut as many believe. In fact, Western scientific dogma has restricted much study of complex and repeatable topics. It’s just a framework of exploration that’s useful, but has many gaps. Art on the other hand is like cloud watching – it forms truths as clear as day and then slips away like a dream. It’s a very useful tool that fills some of the gaps. They need to work together, hand in hand.

Sleepr | Its All In Your Head | 2024

Your digital paintings often feature intricate and exotic geometry. Can you explain the inspiration behind the visual complexity in your work?

I cannot even begin to describe some of the things I’ve seen. In fact, my own mind doesn’t have the comprehension capability. There simply isn’t enough of a foundation or boxes to be able to understand what I’m witnessing. And so often, my art reflects that incapableness, rather than the truth of the work. It’s very raw; I often feel so discouraged, humbled, and ashamed that I can’t document what I see correctly – but I’m trying and I believe this mission of trying is very important to give hope to others to keep trying too.

Sleepr | The Source Of Novelty | 2024

Given your international exhibitions and rising global recognition, how do you envision the future of digital and immersive art evolving?

I am traveling to the Amazon jungle in Peru to take ayahuasca with traditional indigenous Shipibo-Conibo shaman soon for a month, where I will study and document the nature of these visionary spaces in a series of new works. The digital works will be stored forever on the blockchain. I couldn’t think of two more remote aspects – the digital future and the organic past colliding together in a beautiful synthesis. William Blake said: “Nothing is lost…” – we only really ever move on.