Clayton Schiff lives and works in New York. He received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2009. His work has been presented widely, including in exhibitions at 56 Henry, New York, LOYAL, Stockholm, Sweden; Fisher Parrish, Brooklyn, Safe Gallery, Brooklyn; Nevven Gallery, Gothenburg, Sweden. Clayton Schiff’s paintings first appear as representations of dreams. The artist gathers impressions of an unconscious that distorts, displaces, enlarges, and compresses experiences accumulated while awake. His haunting iconography recalls the symbolism of Arnold Böcklin, the alienation and anxiety of Edvard Munch, and Leonora Carrington’s fairylands. Yet despite their hangdog appearance, Schiff’s fantastical creatures and strange landscapes are also resolutely subtle and light, sweet and joyful.