"Two Stories" by L; cutouts on construction paper

There is a certain safety in nursery rhymes. Somehow, these bizarre refrains, which are really entertaining and underappreciated surrealist farces, are never taken at more than face level. “Oh what a cute rhyme” the mommy says. But the child artist understands the laughing dog and fiddle-playing cow to be dimension bending, slightly demonic “what-ifs”. There’s a reason such rhymes are read before bedtime; the brain needs highly-active REM sleep to wander the possibilities set about by these wonderful passages. L does her level best to demonstrate the duality of the nursery rhyme in the aptly (if not too obviously) titled “Two Stories.” By placing the text alongside a happy, smiley moon we see the nursery rhyme in its’ snuggly, warm-milk state as bedtime companion. But the rest is pure chaos. While the elements are all plainly represented, their relationship with each other is a masterwork of shattered space, depth and balance. The intention is clear: the cadence my lull us to sleep, but the passage sets our minds ablaze.