Surrealism was created out of Dadaism. Poet, Andre Breton wrote many texts on defining Surrealism. From his first manifesto: “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 the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.” Breton is explaining that Surrealism isn't just expressed by poems but by many other art forms and just life in general. Where Dadaism was totally against most everything, like reason, surrealism was also against everything except dreams. Surrealist were very interested in Sigmund Freud and his theories on free association and dream analysis. Dadaist didn't see any point to having a real story to their work. It was just meant to provoke the viewer in some way. Surrealists knew that their dreams were important and tried to recreate them in art. Salvador Dali, one of the most famous surrealists, would get up and paint furiously what he just had been dreaming. There were two forms of Surrealism: one based on practiced improvised art where the artist would distance himself from the artwork and create works that were more from the subconscious. The other form was the one that Dali and Rene Magritte " used scrupulously realistic techniques to present hallucinatory scenes that defy commonsense." The first Surrealist Manifesto ends along the terms that surrealists follow no conventions or set pattern. They are led by their dreams and their unconcious mind.
How I think this works into my art: Its not all planned. Not everything in my work has to make sense. Not everything has to be real. In fact, most of my work is a trickery of the eye anyway. So very basically, I want there to be more room for nonsense in my work. I don't want to fall off into being cynical and to not believe in anything but some nonsense will help free my work.
"Surrealist Manifesto." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealist_Manifesto.
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