# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Visual consumption today often puts a premium on hyper-proximity. Television and camera technology allow viewers to fixate on images down to every last pore and wrinkle, while the framing on phones and social media apps encourages myopic frames of reference. There is a deep pleasure, then, in the knowledge that Joan Mitchell's paintings, the subject of the show Joan Mitchell: I carry my landscapes around with me at the David Zwirner gallery in New York from May 3-June 22, were intended to be viewed from a distance. Farsighted from an early age, Mitchell would often look at her own works through a glass to establish how they would appear from afar.

Joan Mitchell, Row Row, 1981

This is not to say that Mitchell's oeuvre doesn't benefit from close-ups: one could easily and happily get lost in the fervent forest of her brushstrokes and I carry my landscapes around with me, presented in collaboration with The Joan Mitchell Foundation, has plenty of opportunities for such cerebral wandering. Mitchell was a Chicago-born (in 1925) abstract expressionist who spent much of her career living and working in France before her death in 1992. Spanning four decades, the David Zwirner show focuses on Mitchell's multi-panel works: she was one of the few artists of the New York School group who worked with polyptych compositions.

From her studio in Vetheuil, a commune northwest of Paris where Claude Monet also lived, Mitchell painted alone, toiling on two panels at a time, often relying on her memory of what transpired on other panels she had finished. One of the exhibit's earliest entries is La Seine (1967), a quadriptych that exemplifies Mitchell's belief that "if the painting works, the motion or movement is made still like a fish trapped in ice." Meanwhile Sunflowers (1990-1991), finished in the years before she died, alludes to the influence of Paul Cézanne on her interest in light and color.

Joan Mitchell, Sunflowers, 1990-1991

The show takes its title from a Mitchell quote from 1958: "I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me-and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed. I could certainly never mirror nature. I would like more to paint what it leaves with me." What it leaves us with is a fresh reminder of the importance of perspective-and the beauty of time and distance.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Joan Mitchell's Landscape Paintings Are the Perfect Digital Antidote

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Joan Mitchell's landscape paintings, the subject of the show, "Joan Mitchell: I carry my landscapes around with me﻿," will take place at the David Zwirner gallery in New York from May 3-June 22. Here's why you should step away from your phone and check out the show.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mark Bradford on painting with paper- Hirshhorn Museum

# data[].attributes.body
NEWER POSTS AND WORKS ARE ADDED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE :)

# data[].attributes.headline
a3 spray paint acrylic and pastel on paper

# data[].attributes.subject
a3 spray paint acrylic and pastel on paper

# data[].attributes.body
a3 spray paint acrylic and pastel on paper

# data[].attributes.body
acrylic and pastel on top of spray paint

# data[].attributes.body
acrylic and pastel on top of spray paint

# data[].attributes.body
a3 acrylic and pastel on paper

# data[].attributes.body
a3 acrylic and pastel on paper

# data[].attributes.body
spray paint on tissue paper

# data[].attributes.body
acrylic, spray paint, pencil,pen, pastel, A4 workbook sketch

# data[].attributes.body
acrylic, spray paint, pencil,pen, pastel, A4 workbook sketch

# data[].attributes.body
acrylic, spray paint, pencil, pastel, A4 workbook sketch

# data[].attributes.headline
acrylic, spray paint, pencil, pastel, A4 workbook sketch

# data[].attributes.subject
acrylic, spray paint, pencil, pastel, A4 workbook sketch

# data[].attributes.body
acrylic, spray paint, pencil,pen, pastel, A4 workbook sketch

# data[].attributes.body
acrylic, spray paint, pencil, pastel, A4 workbook sketch

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Art Edit Magazine - Style Guide - Buy Art Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Artist Profile: Brooklyn Whelan - Art Edit Magazine - Style Guide - Buy Art Online

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Inspired by weather patterns, Brooklyn Whelan's skyscapes uncover the futuristic possibilities of landscape painting.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Screenshot_2020-04-23 Ross Buswell ( atmospherics) • Instagram photos and videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Screenshot_2020-04-23 Ross Buswell ( atmospherics) • Instagram photos and videos(8)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Screenshot_2020-04-23 C H A R L O T T E M E Y E R ( charlotte_emeyer) • Instagram photos and videos(3)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Screenshot_2020-04-23 Ross Buswell ( atmospherics) • Instagram photos and videos(6)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Screenshot_2020-04-23 Ross Buswell ( atmospherics) • Instagram photos and videos(5)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Screenshot_2020-04-23 Ross Buswell ( atmospherics) • Instagram photos and videos(4)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Screenshot_2020-04-23 Ross Buswell ( atmospherics) • Instagram photos and videos(2)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Screenshot_2020-04-23 Ross Buswell ( atmospherics) • Instagram photos and videos(1)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Screenshot_2020-04-23 C H A R L O T T E M E Y E R ( charlotte_emeyer) • Instagram photos and videos(2)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Screenshot_2020-04-23 C H A R L O T T E M E Y E R ( charlotte_emeyer) • Instagram photos and videos(1)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
grew out of the angst of the 1920s. Countries across the globe were still reeling from the devastation of World War I. The Western world was just coming around to radical new art forms such as

and jazz. Advances in radios, medicine and psychology, commercial airlines, and automobiles were helping people rethink the mind and body, as well as the future of communication and transportation. Out of this chaotic blend of progress and loss,

established a new philosophy. In his 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, he outlined the movement's contours and wrote about how dreams and reality would resolve into "a kind of absolute reality, a surreality."

would go on to paint melting clocks, while

rendered herself as a wounded deer.

Breton noted that artists had been working in this vein for centuries: He named essayist Jonathan Swift, libertine philosopher the Marquis de Sade, and poet Arthur Rimbaud as past surrealists. These assertions suggested their dreamy mode wasn't a fad, but an impulse common to many artists and writers across centuries. It has, in fact, persisted in various forms since the height of its popularity in the mid-20th century. In 2019, artists are still creating pictures, photographs, and films that revel in the uncanny. Below, we investigate a few of their practices.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
These Contemporary Artists Are Keeping Surrealism Alive

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
grew out of the angst of the 1920s. Countries across the globe were still reeling from the devastation of World War I. The Western world was just coming around to radical new art forms such as and jazz.

# data[].attributes.headline
my art process usually starts with colours. it comes from the sky. the colours of the sunrise, sunset, overcast cloudy days, dark and stormy, light and sunny, the pastel hues. the sky inspires the palate for my works.  

# data[].attributes.subject
my art process usually starts with colours. it comes from the sky. the colours of the sunrise, sunset, overcast cloudy days, dark and stormy, light and sunny, the pastel hues. the sky inspires the palate for my works.  

# data[].attributes.body
the sunrise:
the bright line of pink caught in heavy, dark and brooding cloud hanging over the horizon. the bright pink is like a shock in the sky. it reminds me of neon lights. the bright pink excites me and while its surrounded by darkness, its contained but like it radiating energy, wanting to burst out of the clouds holding it back. there is energy, it is inspiring and exciting. these colours stay with me day in and out, from dawn to dusk to dawn again. they are the driving force for my work. to me, they are emotional and nostalgic and they feel like home. while painting my mind is off, i am just a machine for my emotions and memories to be brought to life in the form of my work. i create layers on top of the paint, i use the techinique of automatic drawing and always seem to create a horizon line or some sort of map. my hands just move the pastel across the work leaving a trail of my unspoken thoughts and feelings. there is no intention of there to ever be a subject as such, but it becomes what it becomes. whatever that may be.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Influenced by the writings of psychologist Sigmund Freud, the literary, intellectual, and artistic movement called Surrealism sought a revolution against the constraints of the rational mind; and by extension, the rules of a society they saw as oppressive. Freud and other psychoanalysts used a variety of techniques to bring to the surface the subconscious thoughts of their patients. The Surrealists borrowed many of the same techniques to stimulate their writing and art, with the belief that the creativity that came from deep within a person's subconscious could be more powerful and authentic than any product of conscious thought.

In psychology, " automatism" refers to involuntary actions and processes not under the control of the conscious mind-for example, dreaming, breathing, or a nervous tic. Automatism plays a role in Surrealists techniques such as spontaneous or automatic writing, painting, and drawing; free association of images and words; and collaborative creation though games like Exquisite Corpse. Surrealists were also deeply interested in interpreting dreams as conduits for unspoken feelings and desires. The works explored here did not begin with preconceived notions of a finished product; rather, they were provoked by dreams, or emerged from subconscious associations between images, text, and their meanings.

To explore more, click on each artwork thumbnail, then click again on the larger image that appears in the box above.

A combination of pigment, binder, and solvent (noun); the act of producing a picture using paint (verb, gerund).

1. Free Associate
Sigmund Freud and other psychoanalysts used a variety of techniques to discover the subconscious thoughts of their patients. The Surrealists used many of the same techniques to stimulate their writing and art. One of the best-known techniques is called "free association."

You will need a partner for this activity. Copy five of the following words onto a sheet of paper and read them to your partner one at a time. After you read each word, instruct your partner to respond immediately with the first word that comes to mind. Jot down their responses next to each word on the paper, then switch! Are any of these associations surprising?

Feel free to come up with a new list of words for additional rounds.

2. Play Exquisite Corpse
These instructions for playing Exquisite Corpse were originally published in a 1927 issue of the Surrealist journal La revolution Surrealiste. Play a round with your family or friends (ideally in groups of four). The instructions can be adapted to make drawings, collages, and poems.

1. A piece of paper is folded into the same number of sections as there are participants.

2. The paper is unfolded and given to the first player, who draws in the first space, spontaneously, leaving slight traces of lines extending into the next section. The player then folds the paper over to hide what he or she drew.

3. Each player continues the drawings in their successive section, taking cues from the bits of lines that their predecessor left visible.

4. When the last player has finished, the sheet is opened to reveal the full drawings.

What was it like to draw or write without seeing the other sections? Are you pleased with the results? How do you think your drawings or poems would have differed if you'd had a chance to view the previous contributions?

Share your work with others.

3. Make and Inkblot Drawing
In the days before ballpoint pens, people wrote using metal-tipped nib pens and bottles of ink. Sometimes the metal tips would leak, causing a messy inkblot. Psychoanalysts like Sigmund Freud noticed that people would see pictures in these inkblot patterns; Freud became interested in them as tools for delving into his patients' subconscious.

Make your own "inkblot" using ink, paint, watercolor -even black coffee or dark tea, if those are more readily available. Drop a bit of your chosen stain in the middle of a sheet of paper. Fold the paper in the center, pressing the two halves together. Repeat this process enough times to create five to 10 inkblot drawings.

Write down the images evoked by the inkblots. If you have friends or family nearby, show your inkblot drawings to them and ask what they see. How are your answers similar? How are they different? Are you surprised by the different associations people have for the same inkblots?

4. Make a Frottage
Max Ernst used frottage-rubbing atop materials as diverse as string, mesh, even crusty bread-as a way tapping into his subconscious. Find a sheet of paper and place it on a variety of textured surfaces. Rub the paper with a soft pencil or crayon.

What associations with people, symbols, objects, or things from nature do the resulting textures conjure for you? Elaborate on your associations by outlining certain sections, adding new features and colors to the rubbings.

When your picture is complete, share your work with others.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
MoMA | Tapping the Subconscious: Automatism and Dreams

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
MoMA | Tapping the Subconscious: Automatism and Dreams

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A painting, drawing or writing process that aims to suppress rational thought, allowing the subconscious to take control. This spontaneous approach is associated with Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Eli Anapur is a pseudonym of Biljana Puric. A staff writer and editor at Widewalls, Biljana holds Master's Degrees in Film Aesthetics from the University of Oxford, and Gender Studies from the Central European University. She has published academic articles as well as art and film reviews and criticism in New Eastern Europe, ARTMargins, the Journal of Curatorial Studies, and Short Film Studies; she has also contributed illustrations for Argus Magazine.

When in 1924 André Breton (1896-1966) published the Manifesto of Surrealism he explained this movement through the concept of pure psychic automatism. The idea of an uninhibited creative psyche was conceived as the modus operandi for Surrealists . Defining Surrealism from the outset as a psychic automatism he later reconceptualized it along the lines of a religious creed, as a psychic mechanism or state of mind that can stand as a solution for the problems of life. First ideas that emerged regarding the autonomous workings of the psyche came from Freud who in his Interpretation of Dreams explained the relation between the unconscious, dreams and psyche. For Freud dream was a way to uncover the unconscious, because our thoughts are not rationally conceived while dreaming. Our unconscious part is thus freely expressed in disguises and symbols that are difficult to translate into words but can be rendered in figurative representations. These concepts were adopted by Surrealists, and they make the basis for Surrealist theory and its imagery of pure psychic automatism.

Both a concept and a technique, psychic automatism was conceived in relation to a problem of how to express a thought unfettered by different social concerns. It was assumed that thoughts run freely in the unconscious sphere of the mind, and Surrealists aimed at expressing them as they are. The term psychic in psychic automatism was chosen by Breton carefully, as he had a background in medicine, and the other part of the mechanism - automatism- also came from his knowledge in this filed.[1] Before he announced it in the field of art, the technique was used in psychiatric research and parapsychological studies.

Psychic Automatism of the Surrealists

A theorist of the group, André Breton was concerned with the fact that although dreams form an important part in everyone's lives, they do not attract enough attention. Superior reality, or surreality in his terms, can be only achieved through the convergence of a living reality and a dream.[2] The tool in achieving this was Surrealism, and the tendency soon attracted many creatives who sought alternative ways of expression, liberated from visual tropes correspondent with social conventions and moral. Breton defined it as:
"psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express-verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner-the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern."[3]
In the beginning the automatism was primarily regarded as a written technique which included an uninterrupted flow of words. Automatic writing practices started in 1919 and continued throughout the years with the varying success. Even Breton wrote in his 1933 essay The Automatic Message that "history of automatic writing in Surrealism is one of continual misfortune."[4] Later on Max Ernst suggested a way of approaching visual representations through automatism based on frottage, collage, or grattage, and chance effects these techniques produced. Surrealists who included also André Masson , Rene Magritte , Salvador Dali and Juan Miró accepted the ideas from the Manifest and the technique it proposed, and embarked on a explorative journey of the unconscious that was far removed from the everyday reality, encumbered with the difficult mission of finding meaning after the carnage of the First World War. Artistic techniques they employed in line with the ones suggested by Ernst were oil painting, pencil drawing, which included the making of Cadavre Exquis, photography, film, and sculpture.

Unusual Matches and Unreal Deformations of the Surrealist Automatism

Although automatism of Surrealist art is evident in the chance and arbitrary combination of motifs and elements, it is still possible to make some distinctions between the ways automatism was employed and the creative solutions this technique produced. Unplanned compositions or unusual matches and dream-like elements that are also called unreal deformations can be distinguished as two groups coming from the different use of automatism. In the first, compositions are completely left to chance and momentary inspirations, while dream-like compositions are achieved with more deliberation, but nonetheless preserve the automatic combination of objects that often do not belong together in reality. The automatist element was more present in the works of Joan Miró and André Masson, while dream-like realities thrived on paintings and drawings by René Magritte, Max Ernst, and Salvador Dali. However, these broadly conceived directions were not as clear-cut as it may seem. The commitment of artists to these two directions was not so strict, and they often experimented with both, while historically speaking, works from 1920s are more linked with unplanned compositions while in 1930s dominated dream-like strategies.

Salvador Dali - The Master of Surrealism

Automatism in Art Creation - Not Just a Surrealist Brainchild

Although psychic automatism in art is primarily linked to Surrealism and its engagement of dreams, hypnosis and sometimes even drugs in releasing the thought from its rational constraints, some previous and later epochs also have seen the application of automatism in art. First forms of automatism in art go back to the 18th century and 'blot drawings' of Alexander Cozens who created landscapes in watercolor from the accidental blots of color on paper. William Blake also credited some other forces than his mind for creation of his illustrations. In the 20th century other creatives besides Surrealists also searched for an unfettered expression, although not evoking psychic automatism directly. Jackson Pollock developed a method that became known as Action Painting , which consisted in dripping paint over the canvas, emphasizing the importance of process over final result while Les Automatistes, a French-Canadian group of painters based their works on automatic writing. Before the Second World War many Surrealists moved to the US, where they influenced the local scene. American Surrealism or Magical Realism as it is also called, emphasized social problems through the representations of reality that was treated in a surreal manner.

Editors' Tip: The Surrealism Reader: An Anthology of Ideas
References:
One of the most influential cultural movements of the past century, surrealism has been extensively studied within the framework of its contributions to arts and literature-but its pivotal role in the development of intellectual ideas, both political and philosophical, has yet to be fully explored. Featuring writings from the 1920s up to the late 1990s, this anthology-the first of its kind in English-finally reveals surrealism's diverse scope, its deep contributions to the history of ideas, and its profound implications for contemporary thought. Including essays by leading surrealists and other major writers on the group, the volume addresses the key themes of identity, otherness, freedom and morality, and poetry.
Featured images: Rene Magritte - Every day, 1966; Yves Tanguy - I Await You, 1934. Images via Widewalls archive. Salvador Dali - Sleep. Image via Bureau de Estilo Renata Abranchs. All images used for illustrative purposes only.

1. Bauduin T.M., (2015), The 'Continuing Misfortune' of Automatism in Early Surrealism, Communication +1: Vol. 4, Article 10, p.2.

2. Anonymous,To What Extent Was the Concept of 'Pure Psychic Automatism' in the Visual Arts an Unrealisable Ideal? enpleincoeur.wordpress.com [December 19, 2016]

3. Breton A., (1969), Manifestoes, p.26.

4. Bauduin T.M., (2015), The 'Continuing Misfortune'.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Does Pure Psychic Automatism Work in Art Creation?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Eli Anapur is a pseudonym of Biljana Puric. A staff writer and editor at Widewalls, Biljana holds Master's Degrees in Film Aesthetics from the University of Oxford, and Gender Studies from the Central European University.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"The Real Functioning of the Mind": Surrealism
By 1924, Breton had written a manifesto in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism, by which one intends to express verbally, in writing or by any other method, the real functioning of the mind." Central to this expression of the real mind was the reality of dreams and undirected thought, with the latter being the real sense of the meaning of psychic automatism. Breton's lingering Dadaist connections were evident in his assertion that surrealism had no aesthetic or moral preoccupations. The anti-aesthetic manifestation is that the artist gives up conscious control of the art-work, making this about the denial of the artist-creator. It is further anti-aesthetic in that beauty is something which results from unexpected juxtapositions, and not from composition.
Just as there were two directions in Dada (art in everything vs the anti-art direction), there were also two directions (at least) to Surrealism. The automatist element led to the seemingly unplanned compositions of artists such as Joan Miró and André Masson, while the dream element led to the more composed but "otherwordly" compositions of René Magritte, Max Ernst, and Salvador Dali. All, however, were committed to what is called " poesie-peinture" -- a poetic, visionary form of painting. It is also important to note that commitment to these two directions in art varied among the same artists over time, such that automatist strategies dominated most Surreal art of the 1920s while illusionistic, dream strategies dominated in the 1930s.

The "Metaphysical" Style of Giorgio de Chirico
Neue Sachlichkeit or New Objectivity. For de Chirico, the object had a physical reality and a "spectral, or metaphysical" reality which was generally concealed from people. The objects to which de Chirico referred were not fantastical in themselves, in the way that surrealistic ones were, but, like surrealism, their value lay in their role as omens and enigmas. Thus, although his images are not truly fantastical, they are dreamlike: they are familiar but they are placed in strange, almost stifling contexts, environments which seem to be without air, and then juxtaposed with other ordinary objects in bizarre ways. This juxtaposition of familiar objects in unfamiliar contexts is central to the process of dreaming and lies at the heart of Freud's theory on dream language. Since de Chirico was most likely not familiar with Freudian dream theory, what we find in his work seems to be a natural translation of dreams to artistic language. This is undoubtedly part of de Chirico's appeal to the surrealists. Another source of his appeal probably lay in his unusual use of Renaissance perspective, shading and modeling which he then undermined in ways that are almost imperceptible. Finally, historians of the New Objectivity have made an association between de Chirico's use of mannequins and the robotic or automaton-like treatment of figures by artists such as George Grosz and Otto Dix.

De Chirico: The Enigma of the Hour, 1911

In 1936, the Museum of Modern Art featured an exhibition, "Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism," which included 17 works by de Chirico. De Chirico undoubtedly had a strong influence on Edward Hopper, perhaps on Milton Avery as well. Another connection we might make to the influence of de Chirico is the work of American artists who are variously known as American surrealists, magical realists, and social realists (O. Guglielmi, Peter Blume, Kay Sage, and Walter Quirt being some of the artists in this category -- see examples under "American surrealism"). Despite the surrealists' attempt to claim de Chirico as one of their own, the reality is that we find his influence to be more marked and apparent in American art than in surrealist, with the exception of Dali's art.

Automatism and Biomorphism as Surrealist Strategies
Although Miro's art was always committed to biomorphic forms, the two paintings below demonstrate a shift in styles from a freer automatist painting with almost no suggestion of structure to a painting which is still biomorphic and automatist but anchored by the constellation type of composition so characteristic of Miro. Biomorphism and automatism are not necessarily independent of one another: automatism may generate a variation on an organic image, such that the image looks biomorphic. Together, both relate to the surrealist interest in representing the process of dream thoughts.
Biomorphism: the forms suggest a relationship to biological or organic forms found in nature but they do not look like a realistic or naturalistic imitation of anything we might see in the real world

Automatism: techniques which suggest that the artwork has bypassed conscious or rational thought; that the forms and images were generated by the subconscious without the artist's control. Note that an important word in this definition is "suggest."

Ernst and Fini, along with Dali and one or two other surrealists, were more likely to use an illusionistic style of painting with some hints of biomorphism, as opposed to the more abstract, automatist style used by Miro or Matta. Masson used both styles.

We should also note that surrealist work can be found in almost any medium, from photography to the surrealist "ready-made" construction:

On one level, the results of surrealist art and literature were an ordering and systematization of the chaotic inventiveness of Dada. On another level, Surrealism as a method signified an art or the creation of art through a process that corresponded rather closely to the state of dreaming. The states of dreaming and reality would then be resolved in an absolute reality, or a state beyond reality, "surrealité." The exploration of this uncensored state was the key point; art was the by-product in a sense. But in another sense, art was the means of exploration and expression. This notion of art as the means of exploration, and the corresponding de-emphasis on the product, is a very modern position to take although at the same time, it is a position which evokes the spirituality and magic of much ancient art.

By the 1930s, the surrealist movement was divided between those who wanted to merge with communism and forsake art, and those leaning toward art for art's sake. Breton tried to steer a middle path, sympathizing with communism but believing art served a purpose as a means of expression. In his second manifesto, Breton stressed the goal of liberating the individual (discovering his inner nature) while he deplored the use of automatism and dreams if they end only in art. It should not be surprising, then, that Dali illusionistic, dream style epitomized surrealism in the early 1930s. Like Masson, his earlier style had been more firmly rooted in automatism and the use of non-traditional materials, but also like Masson, his style changed by the 30s to the more visually familiar academic style with its hallucinatory imagery.

Giacometti: From Surrealism to Heroic Existentialism
Giacometti is usually considered a surrealist for the first half of his career, although as is the case with many artists whose careers span a long period, it's unlikely that the visual references and ideas of one period of his work are completely obliterated by later developments. The earlier, more surrealist works are more pictorial in nature, suggesting complete dream sequences while his work after the war becomes more of an obsessive attempt to "get the figure right."

Giacometti: The Cage, 1930-1

Giacometti: The Palace at 4 a.m., 1932
wood, glass, wire and string
Mannequin? spinal cord? reptilian bird?

Giacometti:
The Invisible Object, 1934 (bronze: 1935)

The Invisible Object (Hands Holding the Void), 1934: the ultimate representation of the unobtainable desire? Or is this the work in which Giacometti both memorializes and decries the relationship with his father, an artist who encouraged him and recognized his gifts but did not approve of the abstract styles favored by Giacometti and a parent who died a year before this work was made? Is the work a sublimated expression of Giacometti's fantasies of violence, in particular, patricidal fantasies, intermingled with the guilt he undoubtedly felt after his father's death?

One critic has recently suggested that after a period of not working very much and destroying most of what he made, a period which coincided with WW II, and after his exposure to the truth of what had happened during the war, what the "Final Solution" had meant and how many people had lost their lives, Giacometti began to devote his work to the production of the human figure. One of the interesting contradictions in his figural work, a contradiction which does seem to support the idea that his work is an attempt to resolve the psychological conflict he experienced in himself with respect to fantasies of violence and the recognition of what violence in real life achieves, is the difference between looking at his figures from a direct position in front of them and looking at them from a profile position. This dual vision conveys the helpless fragility of humankind as well as the inner strength which resides in the flesh. Giacometti's own comments neither contradict nor completely confirm this hypothesis. He speaks of the impossibility of trying to model a figure or draw a head, and says that it will never be more than a pale reflection of what he sees. He describes this as both a failure and a success and perhaps an obsession in that he keeps trying and keeps asking how you honestly make something. He concludes that he doesn't know if he continues to work in order to make something or if he works in order to know why he cannot make what he would like to make. Perhaps that's the reason why his figures always appear to be far away from us, no matter how close we may get to them–and that's the quality which Sartre found so existential in Giacometti's sculpture. It's also the quality which sets his work apart from the abstract expressionist goal of creating a work of art which subsumes or absorbs the spectator.

From Europe to America
Prior to the start of World War II, most of the surrealists relocated to New York where they had a lasting influence on the emerging New York avant-garde. The NY artists did not all respond to surrealism in the same way: some took the techniques without the ideas or interest in the unconscious; some took the unconscious and the techniques as an initial stimulus to develop new ones.
American Surrealism (Magical Realism)

Summary:

Breton: first surrealist manifesto, 1924, calls for expression of the true functioning of the inner mind

biomorphic and automatist strategies dominate early surrealist work although dreams are important as another means of reaching the unconscious

"poesie-peinture": characteristic of most of the surrealists, whether committed to illusionist space or the shallow space of the automatist paintings

2nd surrealist manifesto, 1929: stronger political orientation

illusionist style characterizes surrealism of the 30s along with the appearance of surrealist objects

Mental Geography, for example, has less to do with Brooklyn than with the inner space of Guglielmi's mind. Blume'sEternal City is an idiosyncratic political statement about the threat of Fascism, not only in Italy but coming to the U.S. There were also a number of female surrealists (Kay Sage, Dorothea Tanning, and Leonora Carrington are three examples), who seem to fall into a category of their own -- neither the magical realism of the Americans nor the hallucinatory surrealism of the Europeans. As we will see when we move on to abstract expressionism, surrealism did offer the emerging avant-garde several things:

it offered a continuum from the unconscious to reality

it may have been the first exposure that these artists had to a unified avant-garde which made art its life 24 hours a day; the surrealists brought journals with them as well as the desire to have meeting places

the interest in Freud, and later in Jung, contributed to an emphasis on myth, fetishism, metaphor, collective experience and an understanding of the world as process

as significant as the other factors, surrealism brought the idea of non-linear thought and non-linear creation as being central to art.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Real Functioning of the Mind: Surrealism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"The Real Functioning of the Mind": Surrealism By 1924, Breton had written a manifesto in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism, by which one intends to express verbally, in writing or by any other method, the real functioning of the mind."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Watch artist Brooklyn Whelan bring his cloud-scapes to life

# data[].attributes.body
Brooklyn Whelan

# data[].attributes.body
Brooklyn Whelan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A Sarah Delaney painting is a portal into a conversation. You can read the questions, responses, reactions and tangents emerging as the piece develops. Although the medium is not a literal dialogue, the colour, gesture, pattern, and movement within the canvas reflect one expressive moment leading to the next. In Naramata, for example, early areas of wash, each only slightly overlapping, spur more specific strokes and lines in response. These are partially covered themselves by further patches or washes of colour, and then more thickly applied forms, interacting but not burying, the earlier compositional elements.

Delaney's spontaneity of form suggests gestural abstraction, or action painting, while her expression is meditative and contained in scale. Her choice, placement and form of colour gestures offer a visual equivalent to a spoken exchange, where the development of ideas in succession says something beyond any single phrase or sentence. While colourists such as Rothko showed us the worlds within a single colour, Delaney arranges colour statements beside and atop of each other. She does not clutter them, but encourages their space and interplay, shifting stroke and shape in whimsical but sensitive responses. Two-dimensional visual art is typically non-temporal, reflecting a still instant. There is only a single frame, with no passage of time needed to perceive it. There is a distinction here from other art forms that do play out through time. Film, for example, involves a succession of frames. As is true for words in speaking or writing. Delaney's paintings defy this distinction, as there is a clear succession, through time, of interactions.

The sense of events unfolding is central to Delaney's broader intentions. While the variety of small marks and reactions that characterize her work are unforced and organic, they combine to tell a story. There is such intention and care, however spontaneously applied, that we recognize a statement without necessarily speaking the language. Each painting seems to say something specific. There is familiarity, yet each feels unique to one's own viewing, and reminiscent only of itself. The work seems both knowable and ambiguous. Materially real yet mystic.

Delaney selects and creates colours, symbols, and simplified forms referencing the landscape of her home, British Columbia. She has a deep relationship with her surroundings, and her work embraces the stimulating locality within a wider breadth characterized by this large and varied province. There are no obvious tropes that would mark Delaney's paintings as decidedly British Columbian, however across her body of work there is a palette that quietly impresses itself as northern and coastal. She notes elements of synaesthesia in her own perception and experience, associating letters or numbers with particular colours, and colours or smells as transportative to place or memory. And there is certainly something reminiscent and associative in the visual fragments Delaney collects. They are local. But she is careful to avoid any obvious or explicit reference to the geography, topography, flora and fauna that inspire her.

The dexterity of motion, speed and equipment in Delaney's vocabulary within gesture alone affords her an accuracy and specificity in her commentary on patterns that occur in nature, without the need to represent them literally. She has taken in, for example, the character of lines in migration patterns of birds in flight, or animals on land. Painting lines reflecting her meditative observations flow naturally rather than self consciously. And because she frees herself and us from literal context, her patterning resonates with a range of scales just as natural patterns do. The views can be similar through a microscope and a satellite image. Delaney herself travels from close examination of her immediate outside surroundings to the arial-view photography of Yann Arthus-Bertrand and David Burdeny.

Delaney offers something contained and humble, yet generously resonant, in each of her pieces, suggesting qualities in the artist herself. We encounter a person and a practice deft at balance, alive between roots and flight, smallness and expanse, stillness and dancing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A Sarah Delaney painting is a portal into a conversation. You can read the questions, responses, reactions and tangents emerging as the piece develops. Although the medium is not a literal dialogue, the colour, gesture, pattern, and movement within the canvas reflect one expressive moment leading to the next.

# data[].attributes.body
spray paint, pencil and pastel on A4 paper in workbook

# data[].attributes.body
spray paint, pencil and pastel on A4 paper in workbook

# data[].attributes.body
spray paint,penicl and pastel on A4 paper in workbook

# data[].attributes.body
spray paint and pastel on A4 paper in workbook

# data[].attributes.body
spray paint and pastel on A4 paper in workbook

# data[].attributes.body
spray paint, penicl and pastel on A4 paper in workbook

# data[].attributes.body
watercolour, pen, pastel and pecnicl on A4 in work book

# data[].attributes.body
work book sketch, spray paint and pastel, attempting to try to make loose organic forms in my workbook. struggling with the smaller size.

# data[].attributes.body
WORKBOOK RESEARCH, NOTES AND SKETCHES

# data[].attributes.body
My bigger picture work is made of spray paint, acrylic paint, pastel and thread. with this work, i used techniques from automatism, abstract expressionism and action painting.  i set out about painting without any plan.  the only plan i had for this work was to use fluro colours and to simplify my work.  i have attempted to de-clutter this work and compared to my older works i think i have managed to simplify this work.  i did struggle to not fill most of the spaces up, due to the size of the support i just wanted to scribble and push paint around and create large loops across the work.  working with spray paint is not ideal for working from home.  the powder residue left from the aerosol gets everywhere.  the fumes stink the house out.  i do wear a protective mask and spray with the windows all open. i love working with these bright colours. i am currently looking at different types of paint with a fluro range as im not sure i want to continue with spray paint as my main medium.

# data[].attributes.body
these four smaller works are on small canvases i had at home. while i would rather work on paper, due to the pandemic, i am using what i have. so these works are all similar, the background or base are spray painted fluro pink, then over top are spaces created from acrylic paint, pastel and pencil.

# data[].attributes.body
the artists below are inspirational to me and my work. the use of colours, materials, textures, medias and marks all link somehow to each person below.

# data[].attributes.body
Neon colours instantly have my mind picturing neon lights; lights at night in the rain, reflections on glass, in puddles.  bright coloured lights bouncing off shiny surfaces.  Bright fluro pink espcially has always held a special place in my heart.

# data[].attributes.body
Dan Flavin

# data[].attributes.body
Sarah Delaney

# data[].attributes.body
Franz Kline

# data[].attributes.body
Willem de Kooning

# data[].attributes.body
Cy Twombly

# data[].attributes.body
Leah Pantea

# data[].attributes.body
Heather Day

# data[].attributes.body
Regine Schumann

# data[].attributes.body
Heather Day

# data[].attributes.body
Christopher Wool

# data[].attributes.body
Cy Twombly

# data[].attributes.body
Mary Weatherford

# data[].attributes.body
Mary Weatherford

# data[].attributes.body
Bigger Picture

# data[].attributes.body
Smaller work, on canvas, spray paint, pastel, acrylic paint and pencil

# data[].attributes.body
Smaller work, on canvas, spray paint, pastel, acrylic paint and pencil

# data[].attributes.body
Smaller work, on canvas, spray paint, pastel, acrylic paint and pencil