Conclusion

I think I hate surrealism…………….

I want something that avoids the cheesy, overused tropes of surrealism. I want it to rely on subtle psychological tension rather than a chaotic junk drawer of clocks and floating eyeballs. Up until now that was exactly what I was doing…..faces in trees, eyes in the sky, portals to nowhere, gold tears. Those are basically all the things I hate yet I was using them. 

I did hear back from the art museum. 

This is what they said, “ I want you to create something that inspires you. If it's something that's going to cause stress or anxiety, like the first submissions, then I definitely want you to shift your focus. Please continue with what feels right to you and I'm sure it will be amazing.”

Of course the problem then becomes where do I shift my focus? I’ve done a lot of reading about surrealism for people who hate surrealism. That’s my category. That means making something that does not scream surrealism. I guess something much more realistic with just a hint of something off. I guess that would be subtle surrealism. I don’t want to make something just to make something. This would take months of work. The show theme is Landscapes of the Unconscious which I view as dreams and illusions. Here’s my 2 ideas.

First a Hopper like idea. I love his work. I love the implied desolation.

The second idea is a Raven. I’ve worked on this one more.

I like both ideas. I finally quit asking if something is surreal enough. I want subtle. I don’t want faces where they don’t belong to just create something weird. I don’t want eyeballs or portals everywhere. Those things are not me. I did develop some trolley ideas, but I don’t want to do 2 trolley pieces.

What do you think? 

Thanks for reading.

Chris