The Dream Catcher (2016) — Original Symbolist Painting by Jolanta Talaikiene

A masked weaver turns our unfulfilled dreams into a single strand of pearls.

The Dream Catcher is a 2016 original acrylic painting on canvas by Jolanta Talaikiene, a Lithuanian-American symbolist painter based in New Jersey. Measuring 36 × 24 inches (91.4 × 61 cm), it shows a towering figure, part unknown machine and part creature, cloaked in pearls and masked like a plague doctor, weaving a long pearl strand that joins the top of the painting to the bottom.

The story behind the painting

“The Dream Catcher feeds on dreams and aspirations and turns them into pearls. Its mask is protection, detachment from what happens around it, and the loss of identity, so its eyes look inward rather than at the world. Every pearl on its cloak is a dream that has not come true.”

“The strand that runs through the painting is our lifelong pursuit of dreams. Some come true; others stay with us as companions along the way. I wanted an atmosphere of ceremony, mystery and silence.”

Symbols in The Dream Catcher

The pearls: unfulfilled dreams and aspirations

The plague-doctor mask: protection, detachment and lost identity

The inward-turned eyes: a life lived inside oneself

The pearl strand: the lifelong pursuit of dreams

Recognition

2017 · Gold Medal, Surrealism and Symbolism, International Galleries and Art Professionals Choices, Mondial Art Academia

2017 · Gold Medal in All Categories, International Galleries and Art Professionals Choices, Mondial Art Academia

2017 · Exhibited, Agora Gallery group exhibition, New York