'a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images.'
Ideas that relate to surrealism:
- Dream analysis
- Interesting juxtaposistions
Andre Breton was a writer, poet, anarchist and anti-fascist. He was one of the founders of surrealism and suggested it as a philisophical movement. The surrealist manifesto (1924) was also written by Andre Breton, he set down all the ideas about dreams, the revolution and transforming the ordinary.
Why discuss surrealism in relation to visual design and communication?
Graphic Design or visual design and communication conform to a structure and specific grid. The images (example below) tell us that by surrealism and uncanny ideas break from this form, meaning that creating a relationship between surrealism and graphic design produces strange, mysterious pieces of work.
Examples of surrealism:
- Surrealism alphabet 1952 - connections with typography, they have intertwined with eachother
- Automatic drawing - Andre Masson - example by a surrealist.
- The False Mirror 1928 - Rene Magritte - questionning the authority of an optical illusion, the eye is subjective - it see's what it wants to see.
- Max Ernst - painting
Salvador Dali and Walt Disney created Destino (1945 - 2003) A collaboration between the two artists to create a short animated film. The surrealist artist Dali described the plot as "A magical display of the problem of life in the labyrinth of time" whilst Disney described it as "A simple story about a young girl in search of true love." Destino doesn't fit a particular mode or structure (like graphics design) but instead combines the surrealist artwork of Dali together with Disney's animation to create an enticing short film.
Other examples of surrealist artwork are shown in 'Dumbo' the Pink Elephants in Parade. Walt Disney was so fascinated by Salvador Dali's work at the time that he chose to create a dark, mysterious scene in the film. Disney makes sure that the scene is filled with strange creatures, angles and folows no rules regarding objects physics.
The 'Uncanny'
'strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way.'
Sigmund Freud was an Australian neurologist said that uncanny "is that species of the frightening that goes back to what was once a well known and had long been familiar." He wrote 'The Uncanny' in 1919 and talks about how uncanny is the subject of aesthetics.
Marcel Ducamp was a French artist who created a piece of work called Fountain in 1917. This piece of work is considered uncanny because of what it actually is and the way Ducamp has created an interesting piece of work. Fountain is a porcelain urinal, signed 'R.Mutt'. He signed the piece with this name because of a curret cartoon strip (one of the characters) that was widely popular at the time. Ducamp added the 'R' for 'Richard' before finishing the final piece which is significant, meaning (in French) money-bags. Ducamp has taken something that we consider not sanitary and signed it with the complete opposite - money-bags, he added this for more artistic value.
Freud also worked with Ernst Jones - 'Uncanny is a product of 'intellectual uncertainty' 1906.
Uncanny likeness... A likeness that is strange, but not complete.
Distinguish:
Something is strange about something
Something from something strange
Something strange added to something familiar
Uncanny is more disturbing than surprising
Uncanny = Unhomely
Uncanny example:
'The Uncanny Valley' 1970 - is a scale of theory that shows how it leads to a disturbing effect. It involves art, robots and human emotions.
The human likeness can also be represented as realism. To put it into perspective, an example:
Simpsons, Snow White, The Incredibles, Polar Express, Cubo Girl and the Real Person
It shows the change of something that it so far off being a human through to the development of changes to make it more realistic.
