If Piranesi Watched Severance

I have a lot of dreams about elevators. I often wonder if this is one of those universal things, like dreams about your teeth falling out. I’ve dreamt of elevators that took me to different realities, depending on which side of the elevator I exited, elevators that fall forever, elevators that refuse to return my to my original location, and elevators in which I cannot properly select the floor I live on because the number is very high and also unknowable to mere humans.

(Digital; drawn on my phone)

I had this dream about a hotel filled with elevators that moved randomly in all possible directions, depending on their whims. It was in part a direct recreation of the Ashtray Maze from CONTROL and the terrifying hallway paintings from Severance. Except I didn’t catch the Severance reference until I was halfway done with this drawing.

I like that about dreams. How they can start out haunting and then you look at them thoughtfully for a bit and they show their bellies and spill all their origin stories.

Most hauntings work like that.