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Pauline Lim

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Pauline Lim, Where Do They Go When They Sleep?

Where Do They Go When They Sleep? (June 2019)

"Lately I have been obsessed with trees, especially in large masses, because living in the Brickbottom neighborhood, I so rarely get to see a mature, full-blown tree.  Because of the Green Line construction, all the weedy trees behind Brickbottom were razed and the landscape utterly denuded.  I started looking at online images of aerial shots of forests and found it so soothing.  When I started painting those images, I couldn't wait to go into the studio and bathe in the greenery.  I wanted to bring a little bit of that feeling to the area in front of Target on Somerville Ave., which is also concrete-clad.  I based the design of the electrical box on a painting I recently finished, which is hanging in the Somerville Media Center in Union Sq. until 8/12/19.  It depicts babies in a little boats drifting above a sea of trees.  The words say, "Where Do They Go When They Sleep?

I wanted to use a gentle image because I feel that life is currently stressful enough as it is, that I didn't want to add an extra challenge to passersby, but I wanted to give people something to wonder about while they wait for the bus or go about their errands.  So I hope it holds a little bit of mystery, on top of being pleasant."