Subconscious Imagery and paranoiac critical.

As I mentioned earlier, this post was going to concentrate on the effect Sigmond Freud's writing of erotic subconscious imagery had on Dali, and how the development of a method Dali referred to as "paranoiac critical" enhanced his painting skills, and led him to mature as an artist. In this dreamworld state, of subconsciousness Dali created some of his finest works of art that resulted in him being referred to as one of the world's best surrealists.

Also, what had great influences on Dali, were the Paris surrealists, whose emphasis was on man's subconscious over his reason. One of Dali's most famous paintings, "The persistence of memory", painted in the paranoiac critical period, it is directly influenced by Albert Einstein's theory about time being relative, and not fixed. Hence the detailed melting clock depicting the fluidity of time. A genius view. He painted the melting of the clocks and the pentagram(also present in his version of the las supper) introducing a new dimension, and supporting a scientific theory.

Dali's dreamworld was further connected with another genius, Alfred Hitchcock. He used Dali's famous dreamworld sequence for the movie (Spellbound 1945). Dali very clearly depicted how repressed experiences can directly trigger neuroses. Also, he was deeply inspired by science, and science's role in art. Hypercube and DNA, to be precise. Dali's art reached for a furthermore sense of creativity, a fourth dimension.

Artist of the day- "da-bu-di-bu-da"- Believe me when i say that is the artist name, I am not making it up for my own amusement ! Once again, russian, but highly talented, and makes dolls out of foam and felt filling and wire and fabric.The collection below is called "The positive world of dolls" and has an extremely ethereal and surrealistic feel to it, identifying with the surrealism theme going on since th last post! The work is so detailed and gorgeous, from the perfect complexion to each little freckle on the skin, the execution is spectacular. I would definitely love to see those up close and on display, will definitely look for her exhibition !

"I feel like I just found out that my favorite love song was written about a sandwich"

If you're wondering about the title, I'm just having a God-awful day, and well the title captured my feelings, PERFECT, but this being my blog about art, lets cut the crap and get to it.

Surrealism.

Go to think of it, it's probably the most conceptual and brilliant style of art. Language has metaphors and similes, art has surrealism. To paint a possible chain of events that take place somewhere in your subconscious(your dreams, your thought process..), is the surrealism nowadays, but to think and look at a particular thing in the way of a surrealist, to paint the reality of how you see the world with surrealist eyes, that is original surrealism. For example, this quote by Frida kahlo: "I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality. " Frida refused to be categorized as a surrealist, which is what I was trying to say earlier, she truly believed that it IS THAT what reality is, and not what she has made up. It is a point of view, not an interpretation, or a representation. It is reality. Kahlo's work honestly has awe struck every time I look at it, it's not just the quality of her work that is astounding, but it's also the reality in her view, her self portraits are what I admire deeply as they have such a vivid essence of her character, the look of it is so exotic and raw, delivering her character to the reader perfectly. Also, her last painting, painful, yet so detailed and intricate, she has had the best paintings in her worst years. Be it love or physical pain, she painted through it all. 

Another surrealist I think was genius, is Salvador Dali (And you have GOT to admit, the flowers in his mustache are LEGNEDARY .Dalí was a colorful and imposing presence in his ever-present long cape, walking stick, haughty expression, and upturned waxed mustache, the man could pose.) His character never came through as comical to me, he seemed rather dark and almost like he was masking a lot of what he was. His work was clear of that though, it was rather direct and honest. What not a lot of people seem to know is Dali had his hands in graphics too, well thats one way of seeing it, in 1969 he designed the "Chupa chups" logo, which was an important moment in his career, not a defining one though. Fun fact : Dali also created the advertising aspect of the 1969 Eurovision song contest. Now thats more graphics than one thought he knew ! He also created a range of illustrations through out his career span. He also collaborated with Walt Disney to create and animation cartoon character ! His appreciation for art did not end at fine arts and paintings, it ranged over photographs, lithographs, cartoons (Destino- walt disney collaboration) sculptures, and illustrations.

In 1920, he was deeply influenced by Sigmund Freud's writings on the erotic significance of subconscious imagery. The next post will focus on the subconscious imagery and Dali in more detail.

Some surrealistic fun for now ? 

Below are the paintings by Vladimir Kush, a very talented Russian painter, I would say one of the best surrealists of our time. His vision is very Dali-inspired, hence I picked him to be the artist of the day :) His work definitely has a very fresh and vibrant feel to it, yet it has such a direct and clear connection to Dali's "dream" inspired work, it's impossible to miss the connection.