deviant
http://techgnotic.deviantart.com/journal/Surrealism-405009758?utm_source=elnino&utm_medium=messagecenter&utm_campaign=100713_NET_Surrealism&utm_term=button
hq
deviantART Headquarters
PsychoArtistUnited
Macabre, gore, unstable
HighQualityArt
DevNews
News 'til Hell freezes over
Supernatural-art
dark, fantasy, surreal, scfi
sPraying-ReVolution
Biggest Words are on the Walls
depthRADIUS
We are listening to each other.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
http://techgnotic.deviantart.com/journal/Surrealism-405009758?utm_source=elnino&utm_medium=messagecenter&utm_campaign=100713_NET_Surrealism&utm_term=button
by techgnotic
W
orld War I (1914-1918) was a human catastrophe that devastated Western civilization and mocked the hope inherent in “modernism”. The sheer volume of the war’s slaughter was beyond belief. The horror of it all destroyed the trust in science, medicine and technology as the golden gateway to a harmonious and peaceful future for humanity. All that was thought to be good had been twisted to the evil purpose of a global war. A global sense of hopefulness was replaced with a global sense of fear and loathing.
The arts community responded with the Dada and Surrealism arts movement, with Dali’s dripping watches on canvas and Bunuel’s shocking sliced eyeballs on film. It was as if the artists were acknowledging that madness still held sway just beneath the surface of everyday rationality. The dream logic of sleeping hours became as much a part of one’s personal narrative as one’s waking perceptions and deductions. The 1920s and 30s were a time when the avant garde in the arts explored and commented upon their perceived meaninglessness of life, and the infinitely jumbled and recombined elements of surrealism became the language of their rebuke of the façade of rationality.
T
oday the radicalism of the surrealist movement in art is mostly gone (although there are still the occasional echoes of the original shocks, like Serrano’s 1987 photograph, “Piss Christ”), but the stylistic influence of surrealism remains indelibly imprinted on the culture, especially in design and advertising. The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles designed by Frank Gehry is officially labeled “deconstructivist,” a modern aesthetic stepchild of surrealism. Advances in CGI artistry are making almost every beer commercial on TV seem like a free association exercise under influence of mild hallucinogens. This twisting and turning and melting and absurdist juxtapositioning of disassociated objects is the visual legacy of surrealism albeit devoid of its original defining spirit of anger and despair. Our civilization has managed to survive, after all.
We now value surrealism simply for its being so enjoyable in its wildly creative...
Ironically, the original meaning of surrealism is now increasingly once again heard in the public discourse. Again this comes in response to horror—this time with the advent of senseless acts of terrorism in our cities and towns. Witnesses at the Boston Marathon bombing numbly described the event as “surreal,” when unable to describe something that couldn’t possibly have happened, yet in fact had just happened. “Like being in a bad dream, waiting to wake up.” The 9/11 disaster was repeatedly called “surreal,” describing an impossible horror having just become reality. Such was the original fire that burned in the hearts of the original surrealist artists. Betrayed by the promise of peace and human progress, they retreated into their own psychic landscape of dreams and fantasies as their only respite from the madness of irrational hate and violence. Let us hope this return to surrealism’s “original usage” is of short duration, so we can continue to appreciate the art form’s altered realities for the purely imaginative artistry of its enduring aesthetic pleasures (minus the despair).
“Dadaism not only wanted to present the meaninglessness of existence but also the meaninglessness of "art" as well such as with Duchamp's ‘Fountain.’
The future of surrealism in the arts is at a crossroads. Technology has increased what artists can create by a thousand-fold.
But will surrealist images, like those in sc-fi movies, point the way to a new way forward, or will surrealism be mainly utilized as a commercial distraction away from social issues?
Do you feel that surrealism should be judged only in terms of the aesthetic and without any further political or social “textual” meaning?
Do you think that a trust in science and political democracy has given us a naïve notion of steady human progress? Should the “irrationality” of ancient beliefs and dream visions be factored into how we define ourselves and our journey forward?
Have you ever had the feeling that the boundaries between your waking life and your sleeping life were becoming porous? Has dream logic ever served you well solving a waking problem? Has a revelation in a dream ever proven true in the light of day?
What do you beleive in today's society motivates so many artists on deviantART to adopt surrealism?
“I consider dadaism as the philosophical basis for niche art movements such as net.art. A small movement that is not only anti-art but presents a critical eye on technology.
“Surrealism initially differentiated itself from dadaism with a focus on dream states and an influence from early psychology.
Loading…
More from techgnotic
More from deviantART
Site Update: Deviation Page Update
Featured in Groups
hqdeviantART Headquarters
PsychoArtistUnitedMacabre, gore, unstable
HighQualityArtDevNewsNews 'til Hell freezes over
Supernatural-artdark, fantasy, surreal, scfi
sPraying-ReVolutionBiggest Words are on the Walls
depthRADIUSWe are listening to each other.
Details
Stats
- Views
- 29,245 (12,352 today)
- Favourites
- 927 (who?)
- Comments
- 325
Report Deviation
World War I (1914-1918) was a human catastrophe that devastated Western civilization and mocked the hope inherent in “modernism”. The sheer volume of the war’s slaughter was beyond belief. The horror of it all destroyed the trust in science, medicine and technology as the golden gateway to a harmonious and peaceful future for humanity. All that was thought to be good had been twisted to the evil purpose of a global war. A global sense of hopefulness was replaced with a global sense of fear and loathing.
Writers: techgnotic
Designers: marioluevanos
For more articles like this, please visit depthRADIUS
Writers: techgnotic
Designers: marioluevanos
For more articles like this, please visit depthRADIUS
saintartaud, you're reading this right? 
1. Definitely not. I think you can choose to judge them separately, though. If a viewer wants to appreciate art that contains a hidden message they don't agree with, but isn't obvious, they should have that right.
2. Do we really trust these things? Look at all the crap about how 'global warming isn't true' and 'vaccines cause autism' and, in general, people's willingness to jump onto bandwagons of criticism. Maybe this is a reaction to going too far with trust - hell, unethical bastards have worked for tobacco and oil companies, not to mention some borderline hilarious politics in areas where they trust the politicians, etc. Anyway, I'm not sure the two questions are actually related, but I don't think there is anything irrational about ancient beliefs or dream visions. It would be irrational to believe that everything is composed of little tiny pieces that are the same as the whole now that we have atomic theory (and that word even comes from the original postulate! atomos), but it's like laughing at the last decade's science for saying that adult brains aren't plastic or something. We didn't have the data and at the time it was logical to draw that conclusion.
3. Sure, but since sleep consolidates memory, I don't see anything mystical about it.
4. I think it is an awareness that reproducing reality is a step, not an endpoint. Not to mention the ease with which we can share reality - e.g. Instagram.
I frequently ignore subscript because it sucks.
#CRLiterature
"You are the wind beneath Satan's wings." -`raspil
#CRLiterature
"You are the wind beneath Satan's wings." -`raspil
Nooo, I didn't get a notice for it. Or I deleted it. I should probably comment on it.
1. I agree with this.
2. This is a really good point that I didn't initially think of looking at the question. Gonna have to factor it into my response.
3. I would say that's one thing dreams do, and I know it's the main going theory for a lot of science now, but it doesn't actually bar other theories.
4. Interesting point, although not how I look at the question. I tend to look at the age range and the attraction of many young people to a rather basic idea of what constitutes surrealism, which often amount to looking cool/trippy. You could probably make a broader case for what makes surrealism continually attractive and why it's retained an influence over certain types of art (especially photo-manipulation).
1. I agree with this.
2. This is a really good point that I didn't initially think of looking at the question. Gonna have to factor it into my response.
3. I would say that's one thing dreams do, and I know it's the main going theory for a lot of science now, but it doesn't actually bar other theories.
4. Interesting point, although not how I look at the question. I tend to look at the age range and the attraction of many young people to a rather basic idea of what constitutes surrealism, which often amount to looking cool/trippy. You could probably make a broader case for what makes surrealism continually attractive and why it's retained an influence over certain types of art (especially photo-manipulation).
Things are going badly because sick consciousness has a vested interest...in not recovering from its sickness.
It seemed like it was up your alley 
Yeah, true, the scope of dreams could easily be greater. I just...have a very very hard time with paranormal anything. I don't try.
Ooo yeah, good point about age. I definitely see a fair bit here that looks awesome but doesn't appear to have the consciousness of, say, 'The Persistence of Memory' backing it up.
I frequently ignore subscript because it sucks.
#CRLiterature
"You are the wind beneath Satan's wings." -`raspil
#CRLiterature
"You are the wind beneath Satan's wings." -`raspil
Doesn't necessarily have to be paranormal. Most Surrealism doesn't try to assert that all. For instance, the use of automatic writing assumes that the subconscious is at play, not anything mystical.
(Actually, come to think of it, the other thing this article is missing is a discussion of automatism and experimental methods, which was also drawn from Dada methodology. I did in my comment state that the article lacks some detail on the underlying theories, but I didn't want to get into too much detail about that.)
Oddly enough, I ended up not addressing that in my comment and tried to considered whether the nature of our current reality might be what's influencing a turn toward that kind of feel. Dada and Surrealism still have an impact on conceptual art and other things that grew out of or are lumped as post-modernism. I kinda wondering if the mix of so many competing realities and the lack of the absolute feeds into this attraction to surrealism.
(Actually, come to think of it, the other thing this article is missing is a discussion of automatism and experimental methods, which was also drawn from Dada methodology. I did in my comment state that the article lacks some detail on the underlying theories, but I didn't want to get into too much detail about that.)
Oddly enough, I ended up not addressing that in my comment and tried to considered whether the nature of our current reality might be what's influencing a turn toward that kind of feel. Dada and Surrealism still have an impact on conceptual art and other things that grew out of or are lumped as post-modernism. I kinda wondering if the mix of so many competing realities and the lack of the absolute feeds into this attraction to surrealism.
Things are going badly because sick consciousness has a vested interest...in not recovering from its sickness.
Argh, another wordfail. Mysticism is probably the better term. I can't grasp that, either...I think if there's a higher purpose, it's encoded in our genes. Anyway, the notion of automatic writing is fascinating, but looking for meaning in it is, to me, absurd. Then again, I'm fine if that is the point to begin with. (I believe there was some matter of 'how could we do such awful things?!' after WWI, and then once they had Freud it makes perfect sense to go looking in the subconscious for answers.)
I like it when you get detailed 
A separate article on experimentation of methodology would be nice. I'm always torn as to whether something deserves more credit for how it was executed, or not.
A separate article on experimentation of methodology would be nice. I'm always torn as to whether something deserves more credit for how it was executed, or not.
Oh word. And could be, because thinking about it we're surrounded by so many more images of concrete things, but that's the problem: they're just images. If you watch, say, a video of the rainforest (let's go with Stephen Fry's cameraman having his head humped by a parrot) while sitting on a couch, so the sensory feedback is completely distinct from the visual, that's got to do something to your head.
I frequently ignore subscript because it sucks.
#CRLiterature
"You are the wind beneath Satan's wings." -`raspil
#CRLiterature
"You are the wind beneath Satan's wings." -`raspil
It depends on what kind of meaning you're looking for. Words hold meaning for us, our minds do build associations. Doesn't have to be an X actually means Y kinda thing, though there could actually be some kind of underlying structure to the way humans create meaning.
I think it should be covered when discussing Surrealism, since it was a big part of what they were doing. As an aside, deChirico didn't like it, he thought they were just playing dumb parlor games.
I think it should be covered when discussing Surrealism, since it was a big part of what they were doing. As an aside, deChirico didn't like it, he thought they were just playing dumb parlor games.
Things are going badly because sick consciousness has a vested interest...in not recovering from its sickness.
3. What about the mystery of the dreams that you can't remember?
My recent interview with ^arctoa on abstract and surreal art arctoa.deviantart.com/journal/…
Not much mystery there, you shouldn't remember dreams mostly 
People who vividly remember dreams tend to have disrupted sleep patterns.
People who vividly remember dreams tend to have disrupted sleep patterns.
I frequently ignore subscript because it sucks.
#CRLiterature
"You are the wind beneath Satan's wings." -`raspil
#CRLiterature
"You are the wind beneath Satan's wings." -`raspil
the most rational interpretation of dreams is surely not to have them at all
My recent interview with ^arctoa on abstract and surreal art arctoa.deviantart.com/journal/…
this!XD
~ * \o/* ~
THIS IS MADNESS!!!
....Madness?
....
...THIS IS PATRICK!!!oÓ**
~ ~
Kenshin My love...*¬*
THIS IS MADNESS!!!
....Madness?
....
...THIS IS PATRICK!!!oÓ**
~ ~
Kenshin My love...*¬*
The Journal Portal
Browse Journals | Polls | deviantART [dee·vee·un'nt·ART]
 Keep in Touch!
| Deviousness yuumei has been a member of our community for over 10 years, and certainly made her mark throughout the digital art community during this time. Beautifully detailed and carefully matched color palettes make up her distinctive gallery of inspiring artwork. Yuumei's helpful tutorials and comments of encouragement to other artists have helped many artists grow, and therefore we can't think of a better way to recognize such a wonderful dev... Read More |
Done!
©2013 deviantART. All rights reserved
.jpg?mode=max?w=780)
No comments:
Post a Comment