Contemporary painter, Alexander J. Payanoff received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a specialization in Oil Painting from the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 2009 and continues to work in the city as a full-time artist. Alexander explores the relationship between the viewer and the object and introduces them through a dreamlike environment that demonstrates his fascination between illusion and reality. Many of his pieces focus on mannequins and other inanimate objects that create a narrative by personifying these lifeless objects and asking the viewer to interact with the work. Through his art, he asks, “what role do these lucid dreams play in the perspective of the human condition?”