Max Razdow & Jesse Bransford

The Veil of Dreams is a shared psychic space between Max Razdow and Jesse Bransford. Daily rituals and detailed journal entries documented their journey through the realm of dreams, inspired by Norse s​eiðr tradition and the Sorcerer’s Well (G​venderlaug)​on the northeast coast of the Strandir region in Iceland. Razdow and Bransford combined written language with subconscious and spiritual research, manifesting distinct and personal versions of the Norse mythology over the course of six months.

The project revolved around each artist’s dream journal. In leather­bound notebooks, Razdow and Bransford respectively specified their rituals, made notes of the impressions that remained from sleep, and doodled recurrent or odd imagery. Although rituals were often self­referential and self­imposed, both artists contemplated Iceland’s occult history and gathered talismanic items including stones and crystals throughout. Bransford inaugurated an outdoor altar for these rituals at his home in the Catskill Mountains, while Razdow pondered his rituals and read the E​ddas, a​vital arsenal of Scandinavian mythology, each evening.

As visions dilated, merged, and meandered, Razdow and Bransford began making card­sized drawings. Both artists have a strong interest in the prismatic elements of the tarot deck, and this series of works summons the Major and Minor arcana of a deck from a parallel dimension. Bransford refers to his deck as “staves” that emerge out of traditional Norse spell books meant to be used as talismanic remedies. Inspired by H​ávamál, a​section from the E​ddas​that lists spells the high god Odin imparted to his students,​B​ransford created 18 cards relevant to contemporary reality that might be placed upon a piece of wood and posted in order for the message to manifest in the universe. Razdow’s cards, which he considers “wells,” are less literal, channeling an intuitive reading of the Nordic mythology and allegorical characters that visited him during his slumber. The number of ink drips, the type of ink, and the water source for dilution were chosen deliberately per card—he utilized water from the Sorcerer’s Well for his last two drawings—, providing the backdrop for intricate studies from his own cosmic perspective.

Like the web spun by the Norse mythology that inspired them, this project extended into several forms. A set of collaborative drawings was started halfway through the dream journal project, with subjects pulled from the dream world and instinctively edited. Each work teased out the cross­section of their respective experiences while generating a tangible symbiotic relationship between their marks. Since the artists often spoke once a month and traveled regularly, this element represents a literal intersection of their imagery. The Veil of Dreams w​ill also display photographs taken on the trip to Iceland that sealed the project. The Northern Lights and confrontation with the Sorcerer’s Well link time and place in a project that was predominantly metaphysical. After the project was officially completed, Razdow created a map of the terrain they’d traversed in their dreams, fusing landmarks from their shared psychic odyssey with Norse cosmology. Like the photographs, it generates some semblance of order and objectifies their steadfast symbols. The full facsimile of their journals will be on display in the gallery for exploration by the audience. Within its pages the differences in writing habits, persistent characters and talismans, and speculative thoughts or analyses of these dreams are revealed in their rawest form.

Both artists note that the project sprouted from an interest in “the generative possibilities of both ritual and collaboration” yet came to embody the openness of the mythology they targeted. The formal Norse folklore and cosmology were the guardians in their mental maze, but their dreams were the catalysts for creation.

Unexpected intentionality and urgency arose from Razdow and Bransford’s interface with the Nordic mythos—symbols and situations often arose during slumber that, translated and defined after the fact, were beyond their prior knowledge. In their ability to transcend time, the dreams often suggested solutions for internal confusion or nourishment. As opposed to traditional religious indoctrination, the Norse mythology was a guide that encouraged them to hold steadfast to and participate in their conscious lives. Personalized rituals and the amplification of internal monologues kept their transcendence loyal to their own subjectivity, summoning the work of Salvador Dalí, Odilon Redon, or Carl Jung. T​he Veil of Dreams b​inds spirituality to the activation of the psyche—tapping into this alternate reality provided a rich well of content and an intangible, peculiar source of enrichment.

This exhibition would not be possible without the support of Fulgur Esoterica (London), who originally hosted the journal project on their blog for the exhibition I​:MAGE: Travelling with Unfamiliar Spirits, b​etween May and October 2014.