Hallucination Bloom

Aleah Angeles is a young emerging talent from the Philippines. Her paintings, inspired by the figures of young girls, depict the blurring of lines between dreams and reality. Hallucination Bloom (Lot 558), a stunning representation of the lure of escapism through daydreams and hallucinations, shows a girl on her knees, faced upwards as though in prayer, dressed plainly in brown. Suddenly, a shock of purple flowers explodes from her face, exposing the colour and vibrancy of the young girl's inner thoughts and fantasies. The purple flowers, in this case, are a striking metaphor for the girl's hopes and dreams, in contrast with the drabness and cheerlessness of her surroundings. Her reality may be bleak, but in her mind, she is in paradise. Hallucination Bloom is an extraordinary interpretation of the power of imagination, and the meaning it can lend to one's reality.