by little woo, September 23, 2011
Though I never studied Art History in University, I was intuitively aware of a great personal resonance with the Surrealist Movement of the 1920-30’s. Throughout my life, Surrealist Art floated into my world via film, theatre, visual art, dreams and through of my own aesthetic tendencies.
When I went to see the current Vancouver Art Gallery Exhibit: The Colour of My Dreams (THE SURREALIST REVOLUTION IN ART), it felt like I was reuniting with old friends. Many of the core principles and intentions of the movement were aligned with my own life journey and perspective. I saw so many points of astounding synchronicity in thought and interests that it felt like I am maybe a reincarnated Surrealist?
Then I also saw that the Surrealists were in many ways early Burners. (matching many core principles of the Burning Man community) Their mantra was to create Revolutionary Art to transform the World! They had political and spiritual intentions and met as a growing collective in cafes and underground venues. They challenged the colonial and bourgeois values of Europe, addressing the “moral bankruptcy” of their times. They opposed Repression and wished to liberate Desire. They generally rejected Capitalism and favored socially-committed art. They also toyed with paradoxical themes, discovering the innate challenges of their Idealism. For example, many Surrealists examined the conceit of appropriating another culture’s artifacts and rituals while also being personally fascinated by these same objects and feeling strongly compelled to collect them. (Surrealist founder André Breton was an avid collector of indigenous art)
The Surrealists were quite a playful and curious bunch, creating collaborate processes and games that helped them bypass the sometimes limiting control of Reason and allowed things to emerge from the Unconscious. For example, the Cadavre Exquis (exquisite corpse) game involved several artists who would compose a phrase or drawing within successive folds of a sheet of paper in a way that no one could see what the others had written or drawn. Upon completion, the paper was opened fully to reveal the “blind” collaboration. Strange creatures and poetic juxtapositions were often the result. Another game “dessin collectif” (collective drawing) involved showing another artist your drawing and then asking them to sketch it from memory. This sketch would then be shown to another and so on. Like a Chinese Whisper game for artists, the original image would morph through the successive interpretations.
Though they were primarily an intellectual movement, the Surrealists were the inventors of many artistic processes. (frottage, collage, found objects, automatism) Also, artists with cutting edge or odd ideas were enthusiastically integrated into the Surrealist collective as they were not afraid of the Weird or Profane. For example, artist Pierre Molinier studied pornography in his works yet founder Breton assured him he had “only friends in Surrealism”. It makes sense that they were deeply interested in the Dream realms and wanted to imbue the Everyday with a sense of Mystery. Also on display in this exhibit are some dreamy clips from iconic films such as the “Voyage to the Moon” by Méliès (with the image of the moon getting struck in the eye with a rocketship) and the classic vampire film “Nosferatu” by Murnau.
Another fascinating piece of history within the exhibit includes the connection between British Columbia and the Surrealist movement. Several members made long journeys within BC, exploring their appreciation of First Nations art (whose abstract representations were big inspirations to the movement) and the extraordinary landscapes of our fair province. Thus it makes sense that the Surrealists would rub elbows with famed anthropologist Levi-Strauss through their mutual love of cultural mythology and collection of ethnographic artifacts.
Like any powerful artistic movement, the Surrealists were well ahead of their time. Much of their Manifesto is still deeply relevant to our present-day condition and perception. Many surrealist works are still considered very fresh and challenging by modern art critics. Even the fact that there were quite a few leading female Surrealists reflects the progressive nature of the movement. And with a slogan such as “A nation that oppresses others can never itself be free”, the Surrealists would not be strange bedfellows for the current activists and intellectuals who are leading the latest Revolution in Consciousness…
Truly, the exhibit itself is a labour of love, showcasing 350 works by over 80 Surrealist artists (including André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Man Ray etc). For curator Dawn Ades and the staff of the VAG, it was a huge bureaucratic challenge to bring such a diverse collection of works from all over the world (selected from both private collections and museums) so this exhibit will ONLY be shown in Vancouver. It will not be touring elsewhere so this is your wonderful chance to see the range of style and medium that existed within the Surrealist legacy!
Note: The exhibit has been extended by popular demand til October 2, 2011. I recommend going during a weekday morning if you can as the donation night on Tuesdays involves a long lineup to get in). There are 2 guided tours per day (11am and 2pm) which are akin to taking a short art history lesson and well worth the price of regular admission ($22.50 per adult).
If you catch the 11am tour (approx 1 hour), then you will have lots of time to enjoy the exhibit in more detail. Making effort to read the various historical descriptions is also recommended – for deeper appreciation and understanding of this movement’s legacy.
* Photo above is of a painting by Edith Rimmington: The Oneiroscopist, 1947 – oil on canvas
The Vera and Arturo Schwarz Collection of Dada and Surrealist Art in the Israel Museum
