Surrealism

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Surrealism PerceptionCreating Depth and
Illusion on a 2-d Plane

• Surrealism An archaic term. Formerly an art
  movement. No longer distinguishable from everyday
  life. Brad Holland

By Joshua Grimes
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Thesis

• To explore techniques used to create
  3-dimensional depth and surreal dreamscapes in

Dalis Metamorphosis of Narcissus and Infinite
Enigma
M.C. Eschers Belvedere and Waterfall
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Before Surrealism

• Surrealism was the direct offspring of the Dada
  movement where artist painted absurd shapes and
  images to combat the madness of war.
• The whimsical images changed the role of art in
  society by representing more than the physical
  world.
• We spoke of Dada as a crusade that would win
  back the promised land of the Creative.
• 
  Jean Arp
• 
  

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Surrealism

• Surrealism implies going beyond realism to
  express unreachable logic
• Surrealism flourished in Europe and America
  during the 1920s and 1930s. The appearance of
  psychology and dream analysis caused new
  philosophies about art.

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Surrealism Took Two Forms

• Others like Salvador Dali and Rene Margritte used
  realistic techniques to present hallucinatory
  scenes

• Some like Joan Miro and Max Ernst practiced
  improvised art to distance themselves from
  conscious control

Rene Margritte
Joan Miro
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Creating Depth

• 4 Principle Methods
• Occlusion overlapping objects so the closer
  object overlaps another that is behind it
• Size the further an object is from the viewer
  the smaller it will be
• Shading representing lighting with shadows
• World Knowledge an example is knowing that in a
  landscape with a warm climate if snow capped
  mountains are visible then they must be far away
  because such a climate change inquires distance.

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Salvador Dali

• Salvador Dali (1904-89)
• Joined surrealists in 1928
• Exploited his own neuroses for inspiration
• Called his technique critical paranoia

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Metamorphosis of Narcissus
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Infinite Enigma
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M.C. Escher

• Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972)
• Worked primarily in the media of lithographs and
  woodcuts
• Although having had no training in mathematics
  Escher's work has a strong mathematical component
• M ore than a few of the worlds which he drew are
  built around Impossible objects

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Belvedere
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Waterfall
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Forbidden Knowledge

• In Platos Allegory of the Cave viewers of the
  shadow objects except their world because it is
  all they have known.
• Artist use the viewer's knowledge of the world in
  the same way.
• Some surrealist like Escher and Dali do the same
  but then break reality with surreal images that
  represent a whole other dimension