Douglas Zaruba's Dream Gate cabinet

Back at the American Visionary Art Museum, this was written on the wall next to a sculpture I liked. To read the whole bio, click on the above photo to enlarge.

Douglas Zaruba (1949 - )

[snip]

Gifted psychically, young Zaruba was able to "fly around the neighborhood at night to locate my toys" and then would go retrieve them in the morning in backyards precisely where he had seen them." I then learned that wasn't normal and to keep those gifts to myself."

At forty, Zaruba hit a deer while riding his motorcyle at night. His body was thrown into a ravine. Declared dead for six hours, he "woke up" inside a yellow plastic body bag. From that moment on, all of his dormant psychic gifts re-emerged, but this time accompanied by a profound peace and insight into the nature of time and connection.

Ten years later he was mugged and stabbed while setting up a street fair and again defied a physician's prediciton of death.

. . . he continues his exploration of time and realities. Douglas Zaruba builds and uses his Dream Gate cabinets to aid in his own and others' use of time travel. "Art is the language we use to speak to The Mystery."

Zaruba's Dream Gate cabinet

Okay, I was hooked. Zaruba's bizarre biography and the premise for his cabinet is just too cool. Kind of Alice-in-Wonderland meets the legend of Atlantis. I'd love to pick the artist's brain to learn more about it. What the hell is going on here? What does it all mean?

Unfortunately, there is no more information on these Dream Gate cabinets, and everything about Zaruba on the Internet has to do with his jewelry making. I wish the pics were better, but it was hard to shoot the interior's depth of field while in "macro" setting. It's quite the magical little idea.


When I clicked to enlarge this, I could see my reflection while shooting the photo in the little crystal ball, which is about an inch in diameter. Reminds me of shooting the egg sculpture outside the museum.