August 10 - September 21, 2006
Opening Reception - August 10, 7-10 pm (during Downtown Art Walk)

An artistic investigation of contemporary Surrealism.


Amelia Alcock-White, "Sanctuary," acrylic on canvas, 18 x 36 in., 2006

Art Murmur is pleased to present “DREAM WORLD” - an artistic investigation of contemporary Surrealism. Surrealism arose in France as a philosophic and artistic movement stemming from Dada and the disillusionment felt by artists and writers after World War I. André Breton articulated the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, emphasizing the preeminence of pure psychic automatism, dream states, and the random play of thought. Adherents of the movement felt the horrors of the war were the direct consequence of the Industrial Revolution, and the rational mind. Surrealism celebrated the unconscious mind and the stripping away of self-censorship. A few artists identified with early Surrealism include Salvador Dali, Renee Magritte, Max Ernst, and Giorgio de Chirico. Iconoclastic figures such as Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso inspired the movement as well, but remained linked only peripherally through the middle of the 20th century. Other anti-conventional movements loosely allied with Surrealism included Freudian theory and Marxism. Surrealism continued to grow and splinter after World War II and into the 1970’s. Contemporary artists who incorporated significant aspects of Surrealism in their work include Louise Bourgeois, Dorothea Tanning and Roberto Matta. Elements of Surrealism have been seen in other art forms as well, such as music (Psychedelic Furs, David Bowie, Brian Eno), film (David Lynch, Charlie Kaufman), and television (Monty Python, South Park). Art Murmur seeks to present a contemporaneous update of Surrealism, fusing urban sensibility and postmodern semiotics into an amalgam of unconscious stream of thought entitled “Dream World.”  

Artists include: Amelia Alcock-White, Christine Conley, Joan Wadleigh Curran, Alex Feliciano, Steve Frenkel, Leandra Hinrichs, Lisa Holland, J’Brenta Jordan, Daniel Kempton, Robert Lebsack, Philip Shimko, Jimmy Stambrandt and Janna Stern

 

 

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