freewheelin-on-line  take 23

 freewheelin 221

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Sooner or later the media are going to wake up to the fact that this year, 2004, heralds the 100 year anniversary of the birth of the Spanish artist extrordináire Salvador Dalì. When that happens there is going to be a Dalì explosion for there is so much to take into account about this genius of our time. You may think of Dalì as the weirdo artist with the waxed moustache and the scary eyes who painted dripping clocks and crazy landscapes but, in addition to all that, he was a sculptor, a film maker, a novelist and in 1956 he launched his own perfume which he called ‘rock ‘n’ roll’. So it is right that we should celebrate his work on the cover of Freewheelin.

The main feature of this month’s cover is taken from a painting that Dalì completed in 1937 which has the title ‘Sleep’. Dreams and sleep were things that fascinated Dalì because he believed that the freedom of the subconscious within sleep could be tapped into and then used creatively. The giant slumbering head in this study is supported by crutches which illustrate the fragility of sleep. If just one of those crutches happened to snap, or if that dog on the left just happens to bark, then the dreamer would awake. Don’t you just feel sometimes that when you are drifting off to sleep in a chair or on a train that your head is being held up by a crutch; and when that crutch snaps - “Well Hello!”.

I have Dylan from 1964 both in sleep (background) and in reality (foreground). Speaking personally, he keeps me awake at night and in the day time too!

Theo Casamegas