Rene Magritte & Surrealism

1.     What is surrealism?

      The juxtaposition of unrelated objects, such as real-life objects side-to-side with stuff from                   dreams put into art.

2.     What motif did Magritte use in many of his works? Why was this significant?

      A man wearing a bowler hat. Magritte, as a businessman, dressed like this and saw so many other       men dressed like this that he became inspired by the ubiquity of it.

3.     In his work Golconda, why is it important that Magritte varied the image of the man in the bowler hat?  How does it add depth to the work?

      It separates from being just dull repetition and makes it more interesting to look at and inspect on       a closer level. The subtle differences make you wonder who or what the artist is painting.

4.     Why did surreal artists choose to create strange worlds with their art?
     
       They felt the world we lived in had already been thoroughly explored and represented artistically        and it would be more interesting to direct their work to the world of dreams.

5.     Explain how the techniques of juxtaposition, altered scale, and language help Magritte explore Surrealism. 

      Magritte invites his viewers in with complicated and beautiful imagery, but leaves them confused       as to the actual meaning of his art.      

6.     What would be a few reasons why Magritte would cover the faces of his subjects?

       Many theorists say the traumatic death of his mother, who was supposedly found with her face            covered, when he was only 12 influenced him greatly.

7.     Why did Magritte strive for realism & precision in his paintings?

      The precise and miniature details in his dream-like paintings help to ground strange scenes in             reality.

8.     Google more of Magritte’s work and include 2 images that interest you.

• Explain the technique(s) used to enhance the work

Clairvoyance

   Magritte employs his motif of a man in a suit and makes his painting absurd by having the subject      paint a picture of a bird while staring at an unhatched egg. It is so impractical it is as if it came from    a dream.

The Art of Living

Here Magritte uses mismatched proportions in his painting of a suited man with a disproportionately large and round head and regular sized facial features. 

Inspiring Artists

I like how her face is colorless but the trees are green.

I like how this picture plays with the mind's eye and how we see things.

 I like the smoke coming out of his eyes, it's really mysterious and creepy.

 I like how this artist moved the facial features onto other body parts.

 I think this picture is so beautiful and I love how the arches in the bridge are where her eyes would be!

I think this picture does a really good job of showing how this girl feels invisible and worthless when she looks in the mirror. 

Dada Finals

Cut Copy and Rearrange

Halftone Screen

Color Blocks

Text Overlay

I really liked the concept of having a lot of personal autonomy with this project but I ended up feeling vaguely uncomfortable with the amount of complicated editing decisions I was required to make. I really enjoy editing but I like more simplistic editing and I felt my projects were not "Dada" enough, so I would do more editing but then I wouldn't like the image nearly as much. My favorite one was the color block because I like playing with color and I liked how simple and easy to make the shapes were. I also liked the simplicity of my cut, copy, and rearrange piece and how much negative space there was to play around with. This project made me realize I enjoy photography and editing more when I have a specific goal to achieve and not so much when I'm just working aimlessly, mainly because my sense of time and deadlines gets messed up, and I never feel satisfied with my work. I really enjoyed many of the Dada art pieces we looked at as a class, but did not enjoy making my own nearly as much.

Dada Studio Experimentation

It was really fun working in the studio trying to take interesting and dynamic photographs! We used a lot of props and did some crazy poses and really enjoyed ourselves in the studio! I liked experimenting with different color backgrounds and lighting. I can't wait to go back in the studio again!

Exquisite Corpse

Each person in the group drew a different quarter of the "corpse" randomly and without knowing what the others drew. This relates to surrealism because surrealism often employs "the irrational juxtaposition of images" such as a robot-body-builder-cat-duck. 

Questions About Art

What is a work of art?

There is no one singular definition for a work of art. Something becomes art when someone finds value or beauty in it. Art is art as long as someone thinks of it as art. To attempt to delineate art is to defeat the purpose of art. Art is a fluid concept, ever-changing and evolving.

What should an artwork provide to both the maker and the viewer? 

Art should make you feel something. If both the maker and the viewer come away from a piece, having felt love or disgust or joy then the art has achieved its purpose.

Why do people make art?

Everyone makes art for different and unique reasons which don't fall into any certain parameters. Sometimes we make art to feel something, or not to feel something, or to make others feel something. People make art because art makes us human.

Where does one encounter art?

Art can be typically found in art shows or museums or galleries but art can also be in your home or outside. Since art can be anything, art can be found anywhere.


What is the role of the artist?

The artist makes the work of art. The artist is responsible for putting their art out in the world for others to observe.

MoMA and Dada

World War I and Dada:

What is Dada and why did it come into existence? The concept of Dada art sprung from the disillusionment of World War I-era artists who wished to rebel against conventional art by questioning what makes something art. Dada did not come from a desire to create art, but rather to criticize art and the world. 

Marcel Duchamp and the Readymade:

Discuss Duchamp's notion of Readymades. What are they? Duchamp wished to question what constituted art and how it should be made by presenting typical everyday objects as works of art. 

How do they change your expectations of what art can be? Readymades defied the previously held notion that art should be beautiful and that art should be special and unique. 

Chance Creations: Collage, Photomontage, and Assemblage:

Dada artists turned to non-art making strategies...

                     What did they embrace? Chance, accident, and improvisation.

                     Why did they take this approach? A form of personal protest and a tool for critiquing the                                                                             world they lived in.

Artist Collaboration: 

What is the value of art made by Dadaists? Not the work produced, but the act of making and collaborating with others to create.

Word Play:

How and why did Dada artists work with words? To free text and speech from conventional rules of spelling, grammar, and punctuation, artists would turn words and letters into abstract forms.