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Surrealism

JamesWhitehead

Piffle Prospector
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
Messages
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I was a bit surprised to discover that we don't have any existing thread with the word Surrealism in the title!

Alchemist Adam McLean has posted his 20-video exploration of the subject on Youtube.

He concentrates on paintings.

It is timely, perhaps, in view of all those molten watches and the fact the word was coined in 1917, to see if the old term still has any potency.

Now that any nerd can share her or his randomness on Youtube, is it worth investigating the idea of the surreal afresh?

It has actually morphed into the default mode for a lot of cynical advertising but the idea of gate-keepers policing a "pure" surrealism sounds ridiculous.

As a student, my walls were awash with Dalì and Magritte; now I find them paradoxically reassuring and nostalgic.

Any ideas? :cooll:
 
Both the term 'surreal' and its proper connotations are topics that have recurrently pestered me in recent years, and I've been mulling them over off and on.

During the recent past I've found myself in a variety of conversations in which the concepts of 'surreal' and 'surrealism' end up as the objects of debate. The most common such situations have arisen with regard to either: (a) debating whether 'surreal*' is an appropriate description for whatever we're discussing (which may not be a work of art); and / or (b) trying to disentangle the boundaries / junctures where 'surrealism' ends and something else (e.g., Dada, psychedelica, postmodern whatever, etc. ...) begins.

No - I can't claim to have distilled any answers from these incidents. All I can claim is that your query is well-founded.

For what it's worth, here are some general comments / observations:

* Most people have a very limited notion of what the surrealist movement claimed to stand for. I dare say that for the majority of folks the term invokes visions of Dali and / or Magritte, and that's it. The irony lies in the fact that visual arts were the last artistic area to be accepted as part of the original movement's agenda, and these most widely known exponents were late-comers to the self-selected core group(s).

* Most folks are familiar with 'surreal' as an alternative adjective for 'strange; weird'. As a result, the term is all too commonly employed to mean this and nothing more. The movement's espoused focus on cross-connecting 'real' and 'dream(-like)' elements to induce novel insights seems to have been lost decades ago.

* The diminution of the term (in popular usage) has led to its attribution to all sorts of works that would hardly have been categorized as surrealism 'back when'. To amplify the irony cited in the first point above, almost no one I meet associates 'surreal' with any art form other than visual arts. Any odd assemblage gets labeled 'surreal', even though in many cases it's pretty clearly 'Dada' (to the extent one distinguishes between the two). Visually rich strangeness without any coherent attempt to trigger novel experience / perception gets the same label, even though it's more properly 'psychedelic', 'op', 'pop', etc., art.

* IMHO the term's been so badly stretched out of shape there's little hope for resurrecting it toward any constructive purpose.
 
It is timely, perhaps, in view of all those molten watches and the fact the word was coined in 1917, to see if the old term still has any potency.
I blame Einstein! His Special Relativity theory arrived in 1905, and his General theory in 1915. And the features that surprised and even shocked many people were the warping of Space and Time involved with relative motion.

What better than a molten watch to illustrate warped time?

But Wicki says:

"References to Dalí in the context of science are made in terms of his fascination with the paradigm shift that accompanied the birth of quantum mechanics in the twentieth century. Inspired by Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, in 1958 he wrote in his "Anti-Matter Manifesto": "In the Surrealist period, I wanted to create the iconography of the interior world and the world of the marvelous, of my father Freud. Today, the exterior world and that of physics has transcended the one of psychology. My father today is Dr. Heisenberg."[81]

In this respect, The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, which appeared in 1954, in harking back to The Persistence of Memory and in portraying that painting in fragmentation and disintegration, summarizes Dalí's acknowledgment of the new science."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dalí#Science

But I can still blame Einstein, because he was also one of the founding fathers of Quantum Mechanics! :twisted:
While Relativity seemed to spring suddenly from Einstein's mind alone, Quantum Mechanics evolved more slowly as many different workers contributed various ideas. And the whole process was probably highlighted in the mind of the public by the arguments between Einstein and Niels Bohr.

"The debates represent one of the highest points of scientific research in the first half of the twentieth century because it called attention to an element of quantum theory, quantum non-locality, which is absolutely central to our modern understanding of the physical world. The consensus view of professional physicists has been that Bohr proved victorious in his defense of quantum theory, and definitively established the fundamental probabilistic character of quantum measurement."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohr–Einstein_debates

No doubt Dali found all this quite fascinating! :)
 
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While I do like Dali and Magritte - like James Whitehead says, the standard - I tend to prefer surrealism in film rather than paintings or illustration. Take a film like Meshes Of The Afternoon. I didn't necessarily understand it the first time I saw it, not without giving it a lot of thought, but I instinctively "got" it, if you know what I mean.

It's a little easier with film, maybe, to create layers of dream and reality.
 
... but the idea of gate-keepers policing a "pure" surrealism sounds ridiculous.

Wasn't this idea always ridiculous, and isn't it part of the reason 'surrealism' seems to have dissipated?

I can't think of another arts 'movement' that invested so much time and energy into (a) self-consciously defining itself and its doctrine(s) and (b) devolving into an ongoing soap opera among competing groups or circles.
 
Surrealism night on BBC4 tonight -

21:00 How to Be a Surrealist with Philippa Perry
A playful journey into the unconscious to discover the deep roots of Surrealism.

22:00 The Secret Surrealist: Desmond Morris
How noted zoologist Desmond Morris leads a double life as a painter of dreamlike images.

22:30 Un Chien Andalou
Short, shocking, surrealist silent film from Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali.

22:50 Spike Milligan: Assorted Q
Episode 1
1/2 Compilation from Spike Milligan's surreal, influential, controversial sketch shows. (R)
View Programme information

23:25 Spike Milligan: Assorted Q
Episode 2
2/2 A further selection from the legendary Spike Milligan's irreverent sketch shows. (R)
View Programme information

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04yctnb
 
Excellent, I'll be tuning in for that. Especially interested in Des's dream art, could it be classed outsider art? I'll have to watch and find out.
 
Excellent, I'll be tuning in for that. Especially interested in Des's dream art, could it be classed outsider art? I'll have to watch and find out.
I've seen some of Desmond Morris's paintings up close. They weren't overpriced, too. A good investment if I'd had a few thousand to spare.
 
That Desmond programme was really relaxing, if you want to watch something before bed that will calm you down, give it a go on iPlayer. Loved the clips of his Un Chien Andalou-style movie! His paintings were quite charming, he said that it was because he sold hardly any that he went into zoology, and the rest is history.

The main doc with Philippa Perry was very interesting, even the bits where she "had a go" at surrealism (I call it the Top Gear effect on modern docs) because she genuinely found an insight into the processes. The bits where the sexual element was brought up were amusingly embarrassed!
 
Could we class Greenaway's Prospero's Books in with Surrealist style?
Pardon? 'It has Surrealist elements', you say?

Ok, how about Lynch's Eraserhead?
Pardon? 'It has Surrealist elements', you say?

the idea of gate-keepers policing a "pure" surrealism sounds ridiculous.
Agreed. I'd go further and say is.
 
Surreal TV ad:
Virgin Fibre launches new TV ad
March 27, 2017 10.19 Europe/London By Julian Clover

Virgin Media has launched its first TV advertising campaign since it unveiled the new Virgin fibre brand.
The multi-million pound campaign will run for 14 weeks across TV, online, print and OOH (Out of Home). The TV ad made its first appearance on Friday 24th March during Coronation Street on ITV and Gogglebox on Channel 4.

The campaign, created by BBH London, is designed to show the entertainment capable of being delivered through Virgin Media’s cables. Set to the soundtrack of “Misirlou” by Dick Dale & The Del Tones, the film features appearances from Usain Bolt, Iron Lord Hunter from Activision’s Destiny game, Southampton FC and Donatello from Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Kerris Bright, Chief Marketing Officer at Virgin Media, said: “Red Hot is our north star for judging creativity and our new campaign delivers this in spades. If entertainment could choose its fibre – it would choose Virgin fibre. Our campaign coincides with the launch of VIVID 300 – our top speed – and the refresh of our bundles. Our entry speed is VIVID 100, meaning we start where our competition stops.”

The film was shot by award-winning director Sam Brown, through Rogue. It was shot in a bespoke tunnel in Budapest spanning 200ft. It will be accompanied by print and online activity planned and bought by Manning Gottlieb OMD.

The full TV advert can be viewed here:

http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2017...ign=Feed:+broadbandtvnews+(Broadband+TV+News)
 
Painter Salvador Dali's body ‘to be exhumed’
  • 5 minutes ago
A judge in Madrid has ordered the exhumation of Spanish artist Salvador Dalí's body to get samples for a paternity suit, local media report.

A Spanish woman, Pilar Abel, says the painter is her father. She says he had an affair with a maid in 1955.

In ordering the exhumation, the judge said there were no personal objects of the artist to be used in the paternity test.

The surrealist artist died in Spain in 1989.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40405421?ocid=socialflow_twitter
 
Dali claimed to have had sex with only one woman in his entire life, his muse, so this would be... interesting if it turned out he was fibbing.
 
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^I caught a Georgio De Chirico exhibition recently (the New Tretyakov, Moscow). Chirico was an Italian Twentieth century painter who dubbed his material `Metaphysical` and who is widely seem as one of the first surealists proper.

His overriding theme was the special atmosphere that deserted shadowy squres and statues can evoke. He is the master of subtle unease.

I don't know wether this exhibition is on tour or not, but if it is, and if you want to know what Surealism really is - where it is coming from - you can do no better than start with Chirico.
 
Painter Salvador Dali's body ‘to be exhumed’
  • 5 minutes ago
A judge in Madrid has ordered the exhumation of Spanish artist Salvador Dalí's body to get samples for a paternity suit, local media report.

A Spanish woman, Pilar Abel, says the painter is her father. She says he had an affair with a maid in 1955.

In ordering the exhumation, the judge said there were no personal objects of the artist to be used in the paternity test.

The surrealist artist died in Spain in 1989.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40405421?ocid=socialflow_twitter

I guess this was on the cards.

A tarot reader who claimed Salvador Dali was her father is not actually his daughter.

The surrealist artist’s body had to be exhumed earlier in the year in order for paternity tests to be carried out after the 61-year-old psychic made the claims.

However, the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation has now announced that the DNA test showed no biological relationship between Dali and Pilar Abel whatsoever.

Abel has long claimed her mother had an affair with the artist while working as a domestic helper in Figueres.

She repeatedly tried to argue that she therefore had a right to part of his vast estate.



Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/06/psych...his-daughter-after-all-6908327/#ixzz4s5rqq3zn
 
Funny to see this thread bumped, because my husband and I were arguing about surrealism just last night. About Dorothea Tanning's paintings in specific. Perhaps an odd subject for a midnight argument. :pop:
 
Funny to see this thread bumped, because my husband and I were arguing about surrealism just last night. About Dorothea Tanning's paintings in specific. Perhaps an odd subject for a midnight argument. :pop:

How the winter evenings are just going to fly.
 
How the winter evenings are just going to fly.

You know it.

"I think the giant sunflower came up the stairs"
"Oh, yeah? Well, I think it sneaked in through the door!"
"Then why are there petals on the steps?"
"Because the doll ripped them off during the fight, durr."
:p

Nah, it was really us disagreeing whether Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was an "evocative portrayal of adolescent emotion" (me) or "a terrible thing full of darkness and dread." (him). Which isn't to say we can't both be right, but he would have seriously hated having my adolescence in that case.:D
 
Yeah, I used to have this print on my living room wall...
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It has fascinated me since I was a small child, paging through my brother's art school books.
This is basically the only kind of image I ever associated with De Chirico. I recently went to an exhibition and found that his range of styles and themes was quite wide.

In particular, he did these 'Mysterious Baths' which I liked a lot. They are a series which all seem to feature some naked men in a pool, clothed men, pool toys in bright colours and black, zigzaggy water. I think they're 'about' the first theme of surrealism, i.e. interfacing with the mysterious unconscious mind.
3065688137_4a3767fa5c_z.jpg
 
I guess this was on the cards.

A tarot reader who claimed Salvador Dali was her father is not actually his daughter.

At least we all know Dali's moustache survives, which is in no way massively disrespectful and information we could well do without if this fantasist hadn't kicked up such a fuss.
 
At least we all know Dali's moustache survives, which is in no way massively disrespectful and information we could well do without if this fantasist hadn't kicked up such a fuss.

I bet there's a photo out there somewhere.
 
Yeah, I used to have this print on my living room wall...
View attachment 5436
It has fascinated me since I was a small child, paging through my brother's art school books.
That is one of my favourites from the old school.

I like Canadian George Grie among the contemporary surrealists. Think I picked up on him at the Fortean Art thread a few years ago.


arrested-expansion-or-cardiac-arrest-george-grie.jpg

Sudden Cardiac Death (Cardiac Arrest)
 
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