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"Surrealism is a sandbox of the humans subconscious mind"

"Surrealism is a creative act of effort towards liberating the imagination." 

-quotes from the guardian article

The whole subconscious mind really intrigues me because it is a mystery that almost know one can solve. I find it very true that our imagination is filled with snippets of gathered inspiration, interactions, impressions and information, often in our subconscious we can alter those things into a surreal way to make our life seem more 'thrilling'. I feel like every subconscious imaginative memory or dream you have there is a story behind it and a bigger reason as to why your brain made you envision it.  

This year I really want to dive myself into the world of surrealist art and not only that but almost meditate the subconscious mind to take over .

Surrealist exposed

"Breton believed that art and literature could relieve the unconscious mind"
"Surrealist like to put objects that are not normally associated with one another together to make something playful and disturbing at the same time, in order to stimulate the unconscious mind"

Banksy in Berlin

We entered this unbelievable courtyard in the centre east side of berlin which was covered in graffiti art having been collected over the past years. Amongst all this exhilarating art lied the hidden treasure created by the unidentified Banksy. I feel like this piece is meant to symbolise the history that has occurred in Berlin, how everything was toxic and jews were fooled by going into showers that would be a intoxicating chamber. However I also believe this piece my symbolise himself since he is known to be unknown, I think there is only one photo of him yet how do we know if it actually him. 

I felt over priviladged to be able to witness a real Bansky piece in person and who would have thought in Berlin.

We went to several parts of the Berlin Wall, 

Salvador Dali

In my opinion,Salvador Dali was and still is one of the most influential, daring and modern artist for his time. Dali was born in 1904 in a town between the French border and Catalonia, Spain. Dali's talent was discovered at an early on, his first landscape painting was at the age of 6. At an early age he dedicated his life to the world of arts by attending the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando where he was expelled from the Academia in 1926, shortly before his final exams when he was accused of starting an unrest. So what makes Salvador Dali one of the most celebrated artists of all time?  I find that there aren't many paintings out there that you take a glimpse and straight away you know its genius. Usually it will take a good 5 minutes to figure out what the artist is trying to "say". Dali has this uniqueness to his work that has never been created before. He takes objects that as a normal viewer would not relate to the scenery he paints.Dali once said " Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure- that of being Salvador Dali." His drive passion towards life definitely comes through in his art.

                                                                                                                                            

First painting by 6 year old Dali

Edited by Jessica Yenilmez

I edited this photo using Picmonkey by setting it on the colour tool on the lowest most fade setting there was just to add a little surrealism to each of the artist's Ive chose. In my spare time I generally enjoy editing photos and would one day love to tackle Photo shop. 

Dream Caused by the Fight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening 

When I see the 'Dream Caused by the Fight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening', it gives me pure satisfaction due to its depth of thought process that must have gone behind it. The golden line for me in this piece is definitely the tiger coming out of the fish's mouth. Even though usually people are the centre of attention, especially when it comes to nudity, but somehow Dali made this figure of the less importance. Is he trying to make us think about how our body is perceived in the larger prospect and the less importance we human beings are on this earth because animals came way before us yet we look down on them. 

In this piece I really admire how he has stuck to subtle blue tones to make it easy on the eyes and not to focus so much on the colour composition but yet on the actual meaning and story behind it.   

Dali's most famous work of art is most likely The Persistence of Memory (1931), often called just "Clocks" and widely regarded as a Surrealist masterpiece. But what is the meaning behind Salvador Dali's painting The Persistence of Memory? What do all of those melted clocks mean? The clocks symbolise the erratic pace of time in a dream. When you're dreaming, it feels like the dream lasts the whole night, however it is proven that the dream may only be a few minutes long. In my opinion, the clocks are 'melting' because on a day to day basis, we are so consumed by time and even in our subconscious mind we are constantly aware of time. While you're dreaming it's not up to you to decide how long you dream for, it's almost as if the clocks are melting because the power of time is not in your hands. Some art scholars believe that Dali's melting clocks may symbolise Albert Einstein's groundbreaking Theory of Relativity, a new and revolutionary idea back in the culture of 1930's. Through the theory of relativity, Einstein proposed a new concept of time as being relative and complex not something fixed and easily tracked with as crude a gadget as a pocket watch. Why the remote desert setting?  The craggy rocks to the right represent a tip of Cap de Creus peninsula in north-eastern Catalonia.Many of Dali's paintings were inspired by the landscapes of his life in Catalonia.The strange and foreboding shadow in the foreground of this painting is a reference to Mount Pani. 

London Trip

Illustration by Kimiya

I recently traveled to London on a spontaneous getaway. London has this certain effect on me that I feel no other city can translate. Among its exciting and quirky hidden art on the walls of buildings down to the pavement, London is filled with inspiration and life. As I live on an island, we are not very exposed to the metro. I was so fascinated by the mechanics of the tube, and everyone's constant rush, if they wouldn't reach a certain destination in time, their dreams if making it in the career world would be shattered. I think that is it though. I love how a city like London, its okay to be a big dreamer,and I guess thats what attracts me to London every time, is that I feel right at home. "You want to make it big? Start communicating and interacting with your surroundings."

As I started to communicate and interact with the very interesting human beings around me I felt how everyone is rather lonely. It is one thing to chase the dream but it is another to enjoy chasing it. This is where ART comes into action. Or shall I say THE ARTS.
It unifies peoples creativity in a way that is just magical. However since a lot of people stick to themselves, when I went to visit the Wimbledon College of Arts I was astound by the undiscovered talent there was.

I was so fortunate to enter the halls of  Wimbledon College Of Arts, I was gratefully given this opportunity because of the ever so amazing artist Emma Glinski. It is her first year at Wimbledon College where she studies mixed media and is stepping out of her comfort zone by exploring all different aspects of Art. She most feels at home when she is painting(portraits with acrylic). Emma Glinski is only 19 years of age and far ahead of the game. She was accepted to WCA with an unconditional offer not even having done a foundation year. Glinski has had a great amount of impact on me as a person and as an artist. Just by watching her paint so intricately made me realise the amount of patience it requires to succeed at the most realistic portrait. This is quite ironic since my theme this year is SURREALISM however what intrigues me to Emma Glinski's work is her thought process. I find the more you look at her painting the more you see the hidden detail. In a way that already stand for surrealism in itself.

Emma Glinski was so generous by offering to work on a collaborate piece as I was visiting her in her studio. We got down to work and just freed our mind. Once we realised where the piece was heading we wanted to hunt down for some more materials.We walked around the whole entire university which was so eye opening for me as I got to see every different section and different crowd.

Woodwork-Emma Glinksi 

Costume Design- Jessica Yenilmez

My favourite section definitely was the fine arts section. The skill that was bottled up into only one room was insane. Even though one would think that they all gather inspiration from each other and work would all look kind of in a similar direction, well no. Each individual artist was a INDIVIDUAL artist. They had already developed a recognisable trade mark. What amazes me is that these young artist were only a few years older than me. 

Getting to work on a piece with Emma Glinski was a real barrier opener for me in terms of my creative thinking. We went with the flow but chose between a colour scheme consisting of a light blue, a dark gold metallic and a a copper however once we were finished walking around the whole uni and had gathered so much inspiration the piece ended up looking completely different than anticipated. It was nice just letting go and not over thinking. Purely doing it out of pleasure and happiness. That is what got me started with art in the first place so it was nice to be reminded why I fell in love with this whole creative world. 

Emma Glinski- Edited by Jessica Yenilmez

Interview With Emma Glinski

Where do you gather your inspiration from?

I gather most of my inspiration through gallery visits and special exhibitions. In my opinion there is no better way of learning than to see other artist's work(especially in progress).

Have you ever stepped out of your comfort zone and discovered a whole new genre of art?

Despite it being difficult, I am constantly stepping out of my comfort zone. I'll admit that trying new things is taking a big risk, however, you never know how it will turnout unless you give it a shot. It may turn out to be a great success. Just recently I have been experimenting in photography and different exposures. It turned out to be so successful that I will be using this for my final exhibition. 

What was the process behind IMMORTALMIND? 

Rapid technological advancement is something that has always absorbed my attention. This installation, IMMORTALMIND, makes a statement about singularity and the evolution of mechanisation through time. Singularity, in its purest form, is the merging of the biological parts of our body with machines. According to the wise futurist, Ray Kurzweil, singularity will be achieved by 2045 and machines will be able to fully model and understand the biological parts of our body to the point where our body will become digitally immortal.

Our brain is the most complex part of our body and up to the present day it could not be understood by anyone or anything, apart from itself. Daunting as it sounds, soon the brain too will be able to be disciplined by a machine. Once this is accomplished, the biological parts of our body will no longer be needed and the core or essence of what makes each and every one of us an individual will be lost. I have started off by painting and using raw materials such as wood, sticks and branches which representing and beginning of life and nature. The face of a man symbolises the human invasion and evolution. Subsequently, the pieces of metal and wires coming out of his brain stand for machines eventually conquering the humans. Finally, the moving digital number and sci-fi sound effects in the background indicate time passing by.Therefore one could say this whole installation acts as an abstract timeline of replacement- what has already been replaced, and what is yet to be replaced in the near future. I believe that even if we could be replaced, we shouldn't want or need to, because we would risk loosing the intangibles that make us human. Of course there is a fear and skepticism about mortality, however there would be no more purpose to life if death is no longer an option.  

Jan Fabre

Edit by Jessica Yenilmez 

I coincidentally stumbled upon Jan Fabre's work as the art department of our school went to Palma(de Majorca) for several gallery visits and we stumbled by his exhibition. I was so intrigued as I'd never see such sculptures, usually when I think of sculptures I think of nude old greek gods. No. Fabre has put a whole new twist on sculpturing. His main focus are brains and turtles. How he came up with the link between the two, that is a question I'd love to ask him myself but I like to assume that its because of the turtles shell- the texture an pattern of it is almost brain like. Could it also be that whenever turtles protect themselves they cave into their shell, is it symbolising that when humans protect their believes and opinions its mainly based around knowledge that we have gathered and learnt. There is no better way of proving someone wrong than by convincing them that you are an expert in what you're talking about.

This piece illustrates the influences elements of many of the artists work. One of them being Dali because of his passion for landscapes and Fabre for his surreal brain sculptures. 

Exhibition Iglesia La Lonja Palma

Salvador Dali & Jan Fabre Inspiration