Working on paper, Nick Oberthaler creates ambiguous, dream-like compositions from an assortment of materials, including ink, wax, watercolor, photographs, and photocopied images. In his work, he explores human psychology, attempting to visualize our doomed desire to cling to youthful dreams. “There are probably a dozen youths we carry around—a dozen ideas, concepts or ideologies, and many more dreams,” he explains. “Dreams or stories are always placeholders for problems we’re trying to hide; they’re a way of blocking out something.”