The Recurring Dream

Emotionally evocative and painterly in execution, Rocky Schencks photographs invite viewers to enter an otherworldly realm where reality becomes a dream landscape haunted by paranoia, isolation, longing, beauty, betrayal, fear, humor, and death. The author John Berendt describes Schencks photographs as stills taken from a movie that exists not on film but rather in ones memory, with all the fuzziness typical of remembered impressions. Photo District News proclaims, It is a measure of the curious strength and unity of vision of the photographs that after youve examined all of them, you feel that there is no other way of seeing the world than his, that there is no other photography youd rather be looking at.

The Recurring Dream presents new work by Rocky Schenck. In addition to his signature black-and-white dreamscapes, the book introduces color images that Schenck creates by hand tinting black-and-white prints with color oil painta practice dating back to the Victorian era that makes each individual print unique. Schenck explores psychological, metaphysical, and pictorial worlds, ranging from suggestive landscapes to scenes of people dwelling in various found realities and the occasional manufactured reality. Inspired by his rich dream life, the images insinuate subtle narratives that entice viewers to create stories in their own imaginations. A foreword by the director William Friedkin, who has used Schencks photographs as sets for several operas, and an afterword in which Schenck describes his creative process complete the volume.