Homework Wk 7
Using the two images below, explain the artistic practice of Surrealist artists, outlining in your response their techniques, subject matter and possible meanings that may be implied by the artists. You must also give a detailed visual description of the artworks. (200 words)
Artist; Chamine, Out of the Blue, Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches, Private collection
Artist; Chamine, A Day in the Clouds, Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches, Private collection
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Yr 10 Visual Arts 
Surrealist works feature the element of surprise with unexpected juxtapositions. It is a literary and art movement, dedicated to expressing the imagination as revealed in dreams, free of the conscious control of reason and convention. Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities of World War 1. From the 1920’s onwards, the movement spread around the globe. Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience so completely, that the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.” Surrealist painting came into being as a consequence of a growing awareness of psychoanalytic theory and Gestalt psychology and of the perfecting of photographic and cinematographic techniques which invalidated the ambition of merely reproducing reality: the final objective was the synthesis of physical perception and mental representation. Salvador Dalí and Yves Tanguy used dreamlike perception of space and dream-inspired symbols such as melting watches and huge metronomes. Max Ernst and René Magritte constructed fantastic imagery from startling combinations of incongruous elements of reality painted with photographic attention to detail.
The first artwork, by Charnine, Out of the Blue, represents all the dreamlike, juxtaposing elements of a surrealist work. The most predominant feature of the work is the juxtaposition of the fish swimming around outside of the fish bowl, and the fish bowl has like a sky with clouds in it. This is a surprise to the viewer considering fish are meant to be in the bowl, not swimming around it.
The other artwork beside it, A Day in the Clouds, also shows juxtaposition, with the leaves and branches of the trees in the sky, and the clouds on the tree trunk, where it should be the other way around. Although both the artworks are dreamlike, the actual painting technique is very realistic; therefore it makes the artwork seem more real.
“A day in the clouds” and “out of the blue” which is placed into the subjective frame because of the artists own subconscious thoughts, emotions and images placed into his work, it is a personal response.
The two images depicts
The two surreal works which are oil on canvas depicts, Chamine use of techniques of subconscious images to portray a surreal world.
The context contrasts on the technique of it being painted this is called juxtaposition, This is portrayed by placing what is reality and putting it some where that it shouldn’t be, for example painting goldfishes as clouds and the clouds in the bowl which the fish were suppose to be in or painting clouds as leaves and leaves as clouds.
The work also represents contexts of how the subconscious mind is portrayed in dreams.
The subconscious mind creates highly realistic images but when the images are placed together they can create an altered reality.
The technique short and soft brush strokes shows a high detail artwork that makes it realistic which represents the dream like images.
The context of what the artists has portrayed represents the images put together which defies reality.
His art work gives the feeling that anything is possible in a dream or even reality because of what is shown and how he has shown it.
The Surrealist circle was made up of many of the great artists of the 20th century. Suurealism is a style in which fantastical visual imagery from the subconscious mind is used with no intention of making the work easy to understand. The importance of the subconscious as a source of inspiration is central to the nature of surrealism. juxtaposition is being used by the artist. both artworks are by chamine. the out of the blue by chamine artowrk is a tree and the leaves are made out of clouds and the clouds are made of leaves so chamine pretty much flipped the ordinary fittings around. and in the other artowk the out the blues one the fishes are on the outside of the glass and the sky and clouds are on the insdie whihc makes the viewer think of why that is.
Charnine has been impacted by the Masters as well as by the surrealists but his style is pure Charnine. He combines whimsical images with precision in his execution. Both artworks are oil on canvas and are relaistic in there detail.he is french.
He grinds his own paint from historical pigments using recipes and techniques dating from the Renaissance. He is highly demanding on himself and destroys many of his paintings, sometimes years of work, if the result doesn’t meet his standards and expectations.
Surrealsim was an avant- garde art movement that first started in the 1920’s. Surrealism came from the branch of Dadaism and the happenings during WW1. Surrealism affected visual arts, literature, film and music and many countries. Andre Brenton described surrealism as reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience so completely that the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday rational world in an absolute reality, a surreality.
Artists used spontaneous techniques based on automatism, in which conscious control was surrendered to the unconscious mind. Within a surrealist work they use fantastical visual imagery, this makes the picture seem extremely lifelike.
In surrealist artworks the artists thinking process and emotions can be seen. Juxtaposition is a major technique that surrealists use. The works get you thinking about what they are meant to mean and be saying to us.
Surrealists are able to express what’s going on in their mind through the pictures.
In ‘out of the blue’ there is a bowl of clouds with fish swimming around the outside in the air. There is a major juxtaposition of the fish swimming around the bowl and the bowl with the clouds, because they create a contrasting effect. This gets the mind thinking why are there fish outside and clouds inside.
‘A day in the clouds’ also has another great element of juxtaposition, because the clouds are on the tree and the leaves are where the clouds should be.
in both artworks there are unrealistic images, which are the main focus, then a realistic background. Even though the main parts of the artworks aren’t real, the highly detailed painting makes it look highly realistic.
Surrealist works are mostly subjective and use juxtaposition of unlike objects in their works. They focus on the subconscious mind and their works have dreamlike qualities. The subject matter of these works are unrealistic whereas high detail and tonality is used.
They are trying to show us the strange images of the subconscious mind and the endless possibilities in which are explored in these. Dreams are a representation of problems faced in real life or thoughts in which the host of these dreams has. When we depict the meanings of these works; we are taking into consideration the thoughts and feelings of the person who had the dream, or in this case; the artist who created the work.
The work Out Of The Blue by Chamine uses juxtaposition of the fish and the sky being out of place. There is a wooden table with a fish bowl on it; in which there is a blue sky and white clouds. On the outside is a dark background in which fish are swimming around.
In the work A Day In The Clouds, also by Chamine, both oil on canvas; there is a barren landscape with a low horizon. There are tall trees and a blue sky. However juxtaposition is used on the leaves, which are meant to be on the tree and the clouds, which are meant to be in the sky. Instead, there are white clouds around the trees in place where they leaves should be and cloud shaped groups of leaves in the sky.
Surrealism is a 20th century art movement that aims to depict the artist’s subconscious mind. It was a movement that developed as a consequence of Dada, another intellectual art movement of the time, and was greatly influenced by Freud, a person who studied the conscious and subconscious mind. Surrealism is characterised by its dreamlike, mystical qualities, unusual juxtapositions, barren landscapes and unusual subject matter.
The surrealist artists used aspects of traditional art such as immense detail, traditional use of light source, similar mediums (ie. Oil on canvas), and highly realistic images. However, it is very easy to differentiate between a surrealist and traditional art works. Surrealist artists paint from their subconscious mind, so their images are very subjective and often use a lot of symbolism that is confusing to the audience. For example, A Day in the Clouds and Out of the Blue are two Surrealist works that show unusual juxtapositions. In A Day in the Clouds the artist has presented floating fish surrounding a fish bowl, filled not with water but with clouds. The other painting Out of the Blue shows a tree with clouds instead of leaves and floating clouds made out of leaves. Both paintings are highly detailed and show traditional use of light source and intricate tone. The unusual juxtapositions in the paintings is similar to that found in dreams and the unusual subject matter is also dreamlike and unconventional.
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 19th century. Surrealist works feature the element of surprise as well as unexpected juxtapositions. Surrealism developed out of the Dada movement that occurred during World War I. Surrealism style uses visual imagery from the subconscious mind to create art. Its main aim is to unite the conscious and unconscious mind experience, that a dream world would be somehow related or linked into an everyday rational world. Some of the greatest artists of the 20th century became involved in the Surrealist movement such as Giorgio de Chirico. However the well-known Surrealist artist is the world famous Salvador Dali.
The artist of ‘A day in the clouds’ creates juxtaposition with the fish swimming out and around the bowl and placing the clouds in the bowl. This technique creates confusion to the audience causing them to think about the artwork. The second artwork ‘Out of the Blue’ represents the significance of surrealism reuniting the conscious and unconscious mind. Bringing two worlds a dream like work, such as the leaves of the tree’s placing them in the sky and taking the clouds using them as the leaves representing a reality world.
Surrealism is an art movement, which took place in the 20th century. Surrealists used fantastic images and incongruous juxtapositions, which depicts the artists’ subconscious mind. Also another art movement at the same time was “dada” another intellectual movement in the art world this effected by Freud, he was studying the subconscious mind and the conscious mind. Surrealism is generally based on dream-like characteristics such as unusual juxtaposition, unrealistic (visually), mystical qualities, barren landscapes and unconventional subject matter.
The first painting “a day in the clouds” had a typical spin on it, instead of everything being where it should be including subject matter and objects it has been reversed. Its ironic how the fish are not in the bowl instead they are floating in the background. The Sky is in the bowl where the fish should be so it has been substituted. The image itself is a dream like scene which would be seen in the subconscious mind. The light colours, the high detail has created an intricate tone, which is unconventional.
The second painting “out of the blue” also has a typical spin on it instead of the leafs being on the tree where they belong they are replace the clouds and the clouds replace the leafs which are suppose to be on the trees. It is ironic how they have been swapped around this creates a dream like image that also would become reality but only in our dreams. The high detailed painting assures us that, that actual scene could never truly be realistic although you can always dream.
Surrealism is an art style that aims to capture dream-like, juxtaposed features in an art work. Surrealist artists often incorporate kitsch, mundane, everyday objects such as fish or trees to portray their subconscious mind in art form. Examples of these dream-like surrealist artworks include “Out of the Blue” and “A Day in the Clouds.” Painted by Chamine.
‘Out of the Blue’ is a strange painting of many small gold fish swimming outside of their bowl while the clouds of the day sky are inside the bowl. This art work is extremely realistic and juxtaposed. The fish have a lot of tonal details making them look 3D and realistic. The juxtaposition of the clouds inside the bowl rather than the fish creates a sense of confusion for the viewer making them think about how things should be.
The second example ‘A day in the Clouds,’ also represents the juxtaposition through realistic images and tonal features of leaves and clouds, the leaves of the tree are flouting around the sky while the clouds are surrounding the tops of the trees. This artwork has a low horizon line, which suggests a vast, open environment. The bright, calming colours capture the viewers attention before drawing thoughts of confusion, like the other painting.
Surrealism artworks are about the artist’s subconscious mind and dream-like images. It came from the DADA movement and the happenings during WW1. The world of dreams and fantasy revolve around the artist’s minds. The inner thoughts and feeling are being show through the artworks. The techniques of surrealist artists are soft brush strokes, which make the artwork realist. The imagery amongst the artworks is very realistic and dreamlike. Surrealism is greatly influenced by Freud, someone who studied the conscious and subconscious mind. Qualities of surrealism are mystical qualities, unusual subject matter, dreamlike, fantasy, weird etc.
The first artwork by Chamine, A Day in the Clouds is about the artist’s subconscious mind. It is oil on canvas. The fish bowl being the sight of the mind, being a fantasy and the fish out of the bowl floating in the air, as representing the mind swimming around thoughts. There is juxtaposition between the clods and the bowl. The fish should be in the bowl not floating outside the bowl.
The second artwork by Chamine, Out of the Blue is a fantasy, dreamlike image. The clouds being made of trees and leaves. The tree being made of the cloud. The dreamlike fantasy about this artwork is that the clouds should be clouds and the tree should be leaves and branches.
Surrealism is a movement based on the subconscious mind and surprising images with juxtaposed subjects. Surrealism has a fantastical dreamscape, often with monumental figures and bleak, barren backgrounds. Surrealism normally has big, bold colors and is highly realistic designs. Their main aim is to represent the unconscious mind on canvas, to display a dreamlike composition. There are weird combinations in surrealism with forms that merge and dissolve, symbols, signs, visions. There are psychological distortions and distorted figures. Surrealists mainly display photographic attention to detail.
The first image represents a fishbowl containing clouds and sky, and goldfish swimming in the dark around it. it plays with the dreamscape and juxtaposition. The positions of the figures are swapped, with the sky contained in the tiny bowl, and the fish swimming free. This represents a dreamlike composition of the fish and sky and is very subconscious.
The second image, a day in the clouds also has juxtaposition. It depicts a tree against a cloudy sky with a difference. The leaves of the tree are clouds, and the clouds are made up of leaves of a tree. This is another unrealistic dreamlike picture, with high realism in it. the realism makes it seem possible, but the actual subject is an impossible thing.