Don't Stop Dreaming

Set against the elemental landscapes of Joshua Tree and Palm Springs, Don't Stop Dreaming explores the body as resonance — a trace against monumental stillness, where solitude, vulnerability, and presence meet in an introspective desert terrain.

Don't Stop Dreaming blends self-portraiture with the desert's monumental stillness — where rock, skin, light, and silence meet in an introspective terrain. What began as a private confrontation evolved into a visual dialogue between presence and place. These are not portraits in the traditional sense; they are moments of quiet recognition — where the artist's body becomes a trace, a conduit for atmosphere. Vulnerability, solitude, and the possibility of stillness shape the emotional topography of the work.

Several works in the series, such as Homage Erwin Olaf (Palm Springs), reflect van Schalm's engagement with photographic legacy. Created shortly after Olaf's passing — and in the same desert landscape where Olaf once worked — the image offers a poignant tribute: a Hasselblad placed on desert rock, cinematic and still. It is both an homage and a gesture of quiet continuity.

Don't Stop Dreaming includes a short video piece interweaving moving image and narration — extending the work into time and voice. This series is offered as an invitation — to remain open to what we don't yet fully understand.

▶ Watch the video work https://vimeo.com/1140744998  

▶ Watch the full series  https://www.rubenvanschalm.com/artworks/categories/dont-stop-dreaming/