Doors of Perception: Dali Schonfelder

The Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery presents Doors of Perception, a compelling new exhibition by an emerging artist Dali Schonfelder. The exhibition offers a space for reflection on transformation and shifts in perception, considering how experiences of place, memory, and time alter our understanding of the world and of ourselves.

 

Through a series of paintings centered on architectural landscapes, Dali captures the emotional imprint of the spaces we inhabit. Buildings become more than structures; they act as vessels of memory. Buildings are rendered not simply as structures, but as repositories of memory — sites marked by lived experience, where moments of intimacy, movement, and change unfold. These environments hold the traces of personal histories, both visible and unseen.

 

Iconic and intimate spaces alike appear throughout the work, including recognisable landmarks such as the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Opera House. These buildings are not depicted solely for their form, but for what they contain: layered histories of human experience, memory, and transformation accumulated over time. Within these compositions, doors assume a symbolic role as thresholds, marking moments of transition and the passage from one state of being to another.

 

Interwoven with these architectural works are paintings incorporating musical notation, further deepening the exploration of memory and perception. Music, like place, has the capacity to evoke and reframe experience, anchoring us in specific moments while reshaping how they are felt and understood. Through this interplay of visual architecture and musical language, Schonfelder establishes a dialogue between space and sound.

 

Each work functions both as reflection and invitation: a reflection of the artist’s engagement with transformation, and an invitation for viewers to consider their own experiences of change. In this way, Schonfelder’s paintings operate as portals, opening onto spaces of memory, perception, and transition.

 

'I'm interested in those moments where life doesn't look dramatically different on the outside but internally, everything has shifted. A conversation, a connection, a move, suddenly you’re seeing the same world through completely different eyes.' – Dali Schonfelder.