Gaze This series of paintings investigates the permeable boundary between being and seeing—those rarified moments when our relationship with space transforms through the act of perception. Each work manifests the subtle threshold where conscious observation intersects with unconscious experience. Analogous to the liminal state between wakefulness and dreams, these works guide viewers into intimate territories of awareness. They operate as phenomenological portals—not unlike a rain- streaked window or the ephemeral blur of passing scenery—where temporal experience transmutes into luminescence. The act of gazing creates a contemplative sanctuary for the peripatetic mind—spaces where viewers can transcend the imperative of interpretation. These works examine those interstitial moments when we find ourselves suspended in life's pauses: waiting for a traffic light to change, observing dust motes as they traverse a shaft of sunlight or discerning patterns within passing clouds. The paintings navigate between profound presence and gentle dissociation, oscillating between corporeal anchoring and suspended temporal awareness. They function as mirrors to that mercurial realm where consciousness, subconsciousness, and unconsciousness converge—where the mind's eye opens to infinite possibility, and the boundaries between observer and observed begin to dissolve. Stephen Auger, © 2024