Assignment 1 Research - Surrealism

Instructions

•  Choose an art movement which suits you best and adapt it into an A3 size self-portrait.
•  Blog about your research and findings.
•  Have a sketchbook for sketches on self-portrait.

I have chosen Surrealism as my preferred art movement. Surrealism  paintings are mostly strange, illogical and dream-like, as contrast to Realism. Objects in these paintings may not look like what they are supposed to be in real life, they can have different textures, sizes or shapes.

Why Surrealism?

• No limitations. Restrictions by reality would limit what we are capable of.
• Creativity. Surrealism provides a wider range of drawing possibilities.
• Collage. Surrealism can also be done by collage techniques. This instills creativity and environmental awareness.

Choosing the right art movement

I am always very supportive of campaigns on environmental awareness. Even before deciding on a preferred course, I have been trying to minimize everyday wastage such as reusing the front and back of a piece of paper, using old newspapers and cardboard for art projects, giving out recyclable items to the recycling center etc.

I came across an art technique called Assemblage and was slightly dissapointed it was not an art movement. Then I read about Surrealism and found out it is closely related to Collage. The difference between Assemblage and Collage is Assemblage is 3D whereas the other is 2D. By applying Surrealism and Collage in a single piece of art, I can achieve two goals at the same time - fulfilling the requirements for my assignment and being eco-friendly as well.

General

• An art movement which started in the early 1920s.
• Surrealists painted paintings which are mostly strange and illogical, as contrast to Realism.
• Surrealism succeeded Dadaism.
• Paris was an important center for Surrealism.
• Affecting visual arts, literature, film, music, language, social and political theory.
• Andre Breton founded Surrealism while Guillaume Apollinaire came out with the term Surrealist.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism

Surrealism founded

• During World War I, Andre Breton served in a neurological hospital, using his skills in medicine and psychiatry to treat shell shocked soldiers.

• Andre Breton admired and was inspired by Jacques Vache, a young writer who has an “anti-social attitude” and “disdain for established artistic tradition”.

• Andre Breton joined the Dada movement, which rejected so-called rationales, reasoning and logic of the bourgeois nationalist and colonialist which the movement claimed was the cause of World War I.

• Andre Breton experimented with automatic writing, expressing thoughts and ideas without restriction or censorship, which he believed was a better tactic than the Dada attack.

• Surrealism was founded. The movement aimed to “revolutionize human experience”, embracing the liberty of dreams and imagination and free the people from social and political restrictions.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism

Examples of Surrealism paintings

• The Son of Man – Rene Magritte, 1964

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/Magritte_TheSonOfMan.jpg/225px-Magritte_TheSonOfMan.jpg

          - We see things only by the surface and do not know what is really hidden behind it.

          - The green apple obscures the man’s face and only a part of it is visible. This shows that we try to see what is hidden behind an object, a person, but even if we think we saw it, there is a larger mystery than what really meets the eye.

• The Persistence of Memory –  Salvador Dali

   Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/The_Persistence_of_Memory.jpg/300px-The_Persistence_of_Memory.jpg
        

          - Replacing solid clocks with flexible drooping ones, Dali depicted the message that time is not as eternal as we think, but rather, decays.

          - It is also said that the drooping clocks show the passing of time when we sleep and dream.


Conclusion

After much research, I chose Surrealism as my preferred art movement. I am aware of the importance of abiding by rules and instructions, but I do not like being restricted. I write and draw my own stories and comics for personal perusal, and some of the ideas I got was from dreams. Strangely, I sometimes dream about sequels and even prequels to my story, and if luck is on my side, I would remember what it was all about. That is why I feel that Surrealism best suits me as we have so much in common.