Cole Cramer - Night Walker
Cole Cramer is an artist from the American Midwest who draws from his experience with dissociative identity disorder, who paints from the perspectives of his alters (or personalities) to capture parts of his experience. Depending on which personality is directing the artwork, the focus will shift between realistic portraiture, expressionistic “mood” centered paintings, and playful drawings of anthropomorphic characters among others. These alters in many ways serve the same function as a mask, though the artist does not have the freedom to choose which mask he wears when. The alters behave as masks that protect the artist psychologically and socially. Just as a mask limits a person’s experience or expression, so too do the alters limit the artist’s everyday experience. The alters, for the artist, represent but a portion of his human experience.