Over the last four years, artist and neurologist JETHERIOT has collected close to 400 dreams -- specimens, if you will -- with startling, surgical precision. In a recent interview he had this to say about his method:
“When I’m falling asleep, sometimes I pretend I’m holding a long hoop-net, like what you use to catch insects. That way, I’m in the right frame of mind when the dreams start. I’m like a kid with a bottle waiting to catch a lightning bug when it flashes."
"Some nights there are so many dreams flying, it’s like a swarm of moths flapping around in my head. I’m catching specimens left and right. It's not unusual for me to haul in four or five nice size dreams in a single night. Other nights there are only a few tiny gnats buzzing around here and there, and I'm lucky to bring in even one. I collect them all, big or small, ugly or beautiful."
"When I wake up, I have to work quickly. I have maybe five minutes, ten minutes tops, to preserve the dreams in writing before they disintegrate and disappear forever. I try to stay out of my own way as much as possible, if that makes sense. I try to be scientific about it. I don’t add or subtract or change or embellish. I just remove them from my net and pin them down as carefully as I can.”