Sweet Dreams is Philemona Williamson’s first solo exhibition in a European institution. The artist, born in New York in 1951, has throughout her career taught in numerous art schools across the USA, influencing many artists of more recent generations.

Her artworks all have a story to recount, often personal, sometimes anecdotal. Through her paintings of the intimate daily lives of adolescents, children and young people, Williamson depicts an America sometimes filled with hope, sometimes profoundly cruel. Her figures, both black and white, evoke a mixed-race America. The beauty of Williamson’s work lies in the timelessness of her compositions, the almost dream-like colors she deploys and the infinite range of possible interpretations – each viewer can discern their own joys, pleasures or anxieties within each canvas.

The title ‘Sweet Dreams’ is taken from a delicious painting on show in the exhibition: two adolescent girls seem to be dreaming of a profusion of cupcakes – those typically American cakes whose appearance overrides their taste. The title recalls the eponymous song of the group the Eurythmics in which ‘Everybody’s looking for something’. As for Williamson, she is looking to represent the at times brutal story of youth as it tips over into the world of adulthood.