The paintings of Austin based cartoonist and painter Sam Hurt in his exhibition License to Dream.

Artist Statement:

"I'm fascinated by dreams (even other people's!) and their strange internal logic. For several decades, I've made cartoons, many featuring surreal scenarios. One of my guideposts was trying to take advantage of what I like to call "cartoon physics," another system with its own internal logic, whenever I could find a good excuse.

As I moved into painting, I was released from the expectation that the viewer will "get it" in the punch line sense. I really enjoy the more open-ended way paintings interact with the viewers, who participate more because they are not expecting a joke to be delivered to the doorstep of their understanding.

In this looser, more gooselike format, I'm attracted to images that make sense, but not in the way the real world/waking life does. Perhaps I'm attempting to reconcile the way reality doesn't always make sense. Maybe that's also what dreams are about."