Spring Break
Students surrender to Surrealism
by Steven Sparber
Arts | 10/7/08
Posted online at 9:59 PM EST on 10/6/08
/ Last updated at 2:13 AM EST on 10/6/08
From Sept. 26 to Dec. 14, the Rose Art Museum will features its new exhibit, "Invisible Rays: The Surrealism Legacy." The exhibit displays works by well-known painters such as Roberto Matta, Robert Rauschenberg, Max Ernst, André Masson, Joan Miró, René Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Jackson Pollock and many others.
Upon first entering the Surrealist exhibition, I felt confused. The entire room was dimly lit, and leaves were scattered about on the floor. I wandered in, slightly unsure that I was in the right place, and was told that the lighting was meant to give a dream-like atmosphere to the show.
"What about the leaves?" I asked.
No one could come up with a satisfactory explanation for the leaves.
"Oh, and there's flashlights over there," the exhibition attendant told me.
"Thanks."
Upon examining the first painting, Untitled, 1956, by the Chilean artist Roberto Matta, it seemed to me the weak lighting made the work more obscure rather than accenting it with phantasmal illumination. Matta's painting is the first work one sees upon entering, and it is difficult to miss because of its size. Untitled, 1956 displays a vacant background upon which electric forms strike and entangle each other, glowing with green and yellow incandescence. The scene is still, yet imparts a feeling of movement. This is after all a Surrealist exhibition, and the basic goal of the Surrealists was to discover freedom through digging into the subconscious mind, the world of dreams and the unknown. One can observe this willingness of the artists to release themselves from the known and articulate hidden layers of the mind throughout the exhibit.
In Jackson Pollock's engraving Untitled 1944-45, amorphous shapes resembling body parts arise from darkness and swim around each other in a dance. The forms in this work seem to struggle in and out of existence, coming to the surface of another dimension. In Pollock's words, "When you're painting out of the unconscious, figures are bound to emerge." And, although Pollock is not usually identified as a Surrealist, much of his work could be considered surrealistic in a certain sense. Like much art, Pollock's work is unique and does not necessarily fit into any specific genre.
Upon first entering the Surrealist exhibition, I felt confused. The entire room was dimly lit, and leaves were scattered about on the floor. I wandered in, slightly unsure that I was in the right place, and was told that the lighting was meant to give a dream-like atmosphere to the show.
"What about the leaves?" I asked.
No one could come up with a satisfactory explanation for the leaves.
"Oh, and there's flashlights over there," the exhibition attendant told me.
"Thanks."
Upon examining the first painting, Untitled, 1956, by the Chilean artist Roberto Matta, it seemed to me the weak lighting made the work more obscure rather than accenting it with phantasmal illumination. Matta's painting is the first work one sees upon entering, and it is difficult to miss because of its size. Untitled, 1956 displays a vacant background upon which electric forms strike and entangle each other, glowing with green and yellow incandescence. The scene is still, yet imparts a feeling of movement. This is after all a Surrealist exhibition, and the basic goal of the Surrealists was to discover freedom through digging into the subconscious mind, the world of dreams and the unknown. One can observe this willingness of the artists to release themselves from the known and articulate hidden layers of the mind throughout the exhibit.
In Jackson Pollock's engraving Untitled 1944-45, amorphous shapes resembling body parts arise from darkness and swim around each other in a dance. The forms in this work seem to struggle in and out of existence, coming to the surface of another dimension. In Pollock's words, "When you're painting out of the unconscious, figures are bound to emerge." And, although Pollock is not usually identified as a Surrealist, much of his work could be considered surrealistic in a certain sense. Like much art, Pollock's work is unique and does not necessarily fit into any specific genre.
Be the first to comment on this story