In the quiet moments before waking, when dreams slip between consciousness and the unknown, British artist Claire Luxton finds her canvas. This spring, she takes up residence at FRAMELESS London, the UK’s largest immersive art experience, with a new work that lingers in the threshold between sleep and reality.
Titled Right Before We Wake, Luxton’s piece—sponsored by Adobe—invites visitors to step into the nebulous space where imagination stirs just before the mind fully re-enters the waking world. Evoking the spirit of Surrealism through a contemporary lens, the installation arrives alongside a bold reimagining of FRAMELESS’ Beyond Reality gallery, which houses immersive adaptations of works by Odilon Redon, Salvador Dalí, Hieronymus Bosch, Max Ernst, and others.
In a world perpetually connected, where information streams relentlessly and distractions multiply, sleep has become a fraught commodity. According to YouGov, 37 percent of adults in the UK struggle with insomnia, and one in eight sleeps fewer than six hours a night. Against this backdrop of sleep deprivation, Luxton’s work is a meditation on rest, restoration, and the subconscious—a plea, perhaps, to reclaim the mind’s ability to wander, to dream, to breathe.
Stepping into Right Before We Wake is to enter a landscape saturated with shifting hues of blue, green, and purple—colours long associated with relaxation, renewal, and introspection. Blue, which Yves Klein once wielded in pursuit of the infinite, here conjures deep calm. Green, emblematic of balance and spiritual rebirth, recalls the Renaissance tradition of using colour to suggest vitality and healing. Purple, historically linked to wisdom and transcendence, underscores sleep’s role in creative renewal.
Luxton’s influences stretch beyond pigment and palette. The philosophical musings of Hippocrates and Aristotle on the function of dreams find echoes in her work, as does the late 19th-century Symbolist movement, which sought to render psychological and spiritual realities in ethereal, dreamlike forms. Through these references, she constructs a bridge between past and present, the ancient and the digital, reminding viewers that the unconscious mind remains a wellspring of insight—even in an era when silence is increasingly elusive.
“In this ever-shifting, relentless world, where time often slips through our fingers, understanding the profound impact of sleep and dreams has become essential,” Luxton reflects. “They are not mere pauses in our waking lives, but vital moments of healing and self-discovery. My work invites the viewer to explore the deep connection between rest and renewal, drawing on timeless symbols like the Sleeping Venus and botanicals such as anemones to evoke a space for introspection and emotional protection.”
FRAMELESS, which has drawn audiences since 2023 with its Blank Canvas initiative showcasing emerging digital artists, continues to push the boundaries of immersive storytelling. Reimagined for Easter 2025, Beyond Reality invites visitors into a world where Surrealist masterpieces take on new life through wraparound projection, mirrored surfaces, and motion-tracking technology. Here, Ernst’s The Fireside Angel, Klimt’s The Tree of Life, Rousseau’s The Dream, and Dalí’s The Elephants dissolve into an ever-shifting, phantasmagoric dreamscape, animated by the BAFTA award-winning digital production studio Cinesite.
Beyond Beyond Reality, FRAMELESS offers a journey through multiple dimensions of art. Colour in Motion employs motion-tracking technology to allow visitors to interact with Impressionist masterpieces, while The World Around Us transforms six-sided projections into sweeping, panoramic landscapes drawn from some of history’s most celebrated painters. In The Art of Abstraction, visitors navigate a labyrinth of colour and form, losing themselves in the radical visions of modernism’s pioneers.
If FRAMELESS is about erasing the boundaries between art and audience, Right Before We Wake serves as a quiet counterpoint—a space to pause, reflect, and surrender to the surreal logic of dreams. Luxton’s world is neither fully here nor there, neither past nor present, but something in between: a place of possibility, waiting to be entered.
ABOUT CLAIRE LUXTON
Claire Luxton is a British contemporary multi-disciplinary artist working with photography, immersive installation and poetry. Through her research-driven approach, and recognisable style tied to nature and portraiture, Luxton challenges visual bias by addressing societal prejudices surrounding fragility, mental health and beauty. Collected internationally, Luxton is represented by world-leading artist agency MTArt, who together have created large-scale immersive works in iconic locations such as Leicester Square, Marble Arch and Battersea Power Station.
TICKET PRICES:
Adult & Child
Adult from £28 / Child from £18 – Special advance/online price
On the day – Adult £31 / Child £21
Flexi Ticket
Flexible entry time on a chosen day – Adult £34 / Child £24
Family Ticket
2 adults & 2 children – from £80
Not available after 4pm on Friday and Saturdays
Only available online / in advance
Student
£21.70 – Sold via Student Beans
Not available for Lates
Claire Luxton: Right Before opens to the public on 28th March, 2025 at Frameless London
©2025 FRAMELESS
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