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Review
September 2015 Surrealismo at Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop |
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Surrealism is an artistic and literary movement that originated in Paris between 1910 and the early 1920s. Surrealism has been defined as an artistic attempt to “channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of the imagination,” and as an effort to “resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality.” Over time, the adjective “surrealistic” came to be identified with “strange, dreamlike atmosphere or quality,” or in vernacular English, some thing or event that was just downright weird and outside the bounds of normal reality.
By the 1930s, surrealism made its way to the art scene in Mexico. Leading surrealistic painters include Remedio Varo, a Spanish artist who fled Franco’s fascist Spain, first to France and then to Mexico. She had not intended on staying in Mexico, but she ended up living out her life there devoted to painting imaginative works often compared to Hieronymus Bosch. Frida Kahlo has frequently been described as a surrealist painter, although Kahlo never formally identified herself as such.
By the 1930s, surrealism made its way to the art scene in Mexico. Leading surrealistic painters include Remedio Varo, a Spanish artist who fled Franco’s fascist Spain, first to France and then to Mexico. She had not intended on staying in Mexico, but she ended up living out her life there devoted to painting imaginative works often compared to Hieronymus Bosch. Frida Kahlo has frequently been described as a surrealist painter, although Kahlo never formally identified herself as such.
Another well-known Mexican surrealist was British born Leonora Carrington who was lovers with surrealist Max Ernst. The Nazis drove them into exile from France. Ernst fled to United States, and Carrington eventually made her way to Mexico. She became a Mexican citizen, married and had two sons, and lived her life in Mexico working as a painter. She was also founder of the Mexican feminist movement in the 1970s. Other lesser-known European surrealists ended up in Mexico as a result of the Nazis, among them Wolfgang Paalen, Alice Rahon, and Eva Sulzer. Well-known French surrealist writer André Breton lived for a brief period in Mexico, too. In fact, Breton once described Mexico as “the most surrealistic country in the world.”
So it is not surprising that Tucson’s Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop should pay homage to the Mexican surrealist heritage with its current Surrealismo exhibit, on display through October 17.
So it is not surprising that Tucson’s Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery & Workshop should pay homage to the Mexican surrealist heritage with its current Surrealismo exhibit, on display through October 17.
LBohlke
The Raices Taller exhibit is quite large with pieces on a spectrum from quintessential surrealism to works that are on loosely connected to that illustrious art movement. Overall though, much of the work is exciting and compelling. As is so often the case, there are too many really noteworthy artworks to list them all. We’ll just list a few here to generate interest with the hope that you’ll visit the gallery and see for yourself.
Chris Bishop shares with us some elegant pen and ink drawings, as does Damien Jim and Adam Gilliland. Trish Wann’s collage works pull us in for a closer look. Linda Bohlke’s work Formicine Formulations provided the poster image for this exhibit.
(click on all images to enlarge)
Chris Bishop shares with us some elegant pen and ink drawings, as does Damien Jim and Adam Gilliland. Trish Wann’s collage works pull us in for a closer look. Linda Bohlke’s work Formicine Formulations provided the poster image for this exhibit.
(click on all images to enlarge)
Jay Barwell’s large photomontage images also demand attention. Here we see his Against the Tide. This work sold quickly. Jessie Shinn presents three small, rather mysterious black and white photos titled Waking Dreams #1, #2 and #3. Photographer Rachel Frank’s In Pieces called upon Polaroid technology to create her dreamlike images. Linda Valdez’s artwork is a photomontage with a definite surrealistic feel full of dramatic images. Linda Chappel’s photomontage has a greater claim to surrealism than many works in the exhibit with her compelling imagery.
JayBarwell_Against the Tide_
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Rachel Frank_In Pieces_
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Linda Valdez_
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LChappel_Raven's Passage_
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Painters are well represented in this exhibit. Among them are the larger scale works of Dominic Valencia; Lester Aguirre’s Imprinted Impressions….Imprinted Feelings…Imprinted Thoughts, a mixed media work with intriguing surface design of a compelling female figure; Larry Gomez’s personal look at a man’s Snooker Contemplation, and Mary Theresa Dietz with her Rusty Blackbird with Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon which colorfully reminds us that humans are not the only species which has a surreal experience at times.
LesterAguirre_Imprinted Impressions...
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LarryGomez_Snooker Contemplation_
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MTDietz_Rusty Blackbird....
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Wall pieces created of found objects include Julia Arriola’s Untitled that seems to play with a surrealistic notion of time. Shirley Wagner in her work Through the Looking Glass takes up our rather surrealistic behavior when it comes to those substances, pharmaceutical and otherwise, that we store behind the mirrors of our bathroom cabinets. Diane C. Taylor’s Otherworldly Desert of My Dreams uses beautifully colorful fused glass to tell her story of surrealism.
Julia Arriola_Untitled_
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SWagner_Through the Looking Glass_
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DCTayor_Otherworldly Desert....
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In three dimensions, artists had a wide range of interesting imagery to explore various ideas.
Sculptor and painter Michael Cajero shares an arresting Cat Bird ceramic figure (right). Juncong Mo presents a ceramic bust of a Chinese factory work titled Industrial Laborer (far right) that manages to be both thought-provoking and beautiful at the same time. |
MCajero_Cat Bird_
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Mo Juncong_Industrial Laborer_
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GTacheenie_Campoy_Aboriginal Title....
Glory Tacheenie-Campoy’s small-scale mixed media work has a long title Aboriginal Title/Doctrine of Discovery and a challenging premise. Is that Geronimo staring back us and reminding us of Native and Anglo relations in this image of rebirth and transformation?
(click on all images to enlarge)
(click on all images to enlarge)
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One of the most arresting works in the exhibit is Ozlem Ayse Ozgur’s When Children Die They Do Not Grow. We see a two dimensional monoprint with a sculptural piece made of small children’s shows. We are forced to think of the very surreal nature of a world where children are the victims of war, starvation, and displacement at the hands of adults.
The Surrealismo exhibit at Raices Taller presents us with many images full of ideas about the borderland between imagination, dreams, and reality. Don’t miss it. ~~C.J. Shane |
Ozlem Ayse Ozgur_When Chlldren Die v.1
Ozlem Ayse Ozgur_When Children Die...v2
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