 |
| Chucky's Recurring Delusional Dream | 30 x 36 | 2009 | SOLD |
My surrealist portrait of Chucky the cat with his nemesis' the Lord of the Rings gang - Frodo, Bilbo, and Strider...is in honor of, one of the twentieth centuries most amazing Artists, Salvador Dali.
 |
| The Persistence of MemorySalvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904-1989) |
Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York
1931. Oil on canvas, 9 1/2 x 13" (24.1 x 33 cm). Given anonymously. © 2009 Salvador Dalí, Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Time is the theme here, from the melting watches to the decay implied by the swarming ants. The monstrous fleshy creature draped across the paintings center is an approximation of Dalís own face in profile. Mastering what he called "the usual paralyzing tricks of eye-fooling," Dalí painted this work with "the most imperialist fury of precision," but only, he said, "to systematize confusion and thus to help discredit completely the world of reality." There is, however, a nod to the real: The distant golden cliffs are those on the coast of Catalonia, Dalís home.
Salvador Dali the Master of Surrealism
Dali embraced all the science of painting as a way to study the psyche through subconscious images. He called this process the Paranoiac Critical Method. As any paranoiac, the artist should allow these images to reach the conscience, and then do what the paranoiac cannot do: Freeze them on canvas to give consciousness the opportunity to comprehend their meaning. Later on, he expanded the process into the Oniric-Critical Method, in which the artist pays attention to his dreams, freezing them through art, and analyzing them as well. As Freud said, "A dream that is not interpreted is like a letter that is not opened."
 |
| Dali Atomicus/ Philippe Halsman/Gelatin silver print, 1947 |
Halsman Family Collection
Image Copyright the Estate of Philippe Halsman
Surrealism
In Paris, Halsman studied the work of other artists and photographers, especially the surrealists, from whom he learned to make images that surprised his viewers. By including homely, and ultimately disturbing, details, he gave his subjects memorable tension. Through subtle lighting, sharp focus, and close cropping, he turned formal fashion shots into serious investigations of character. When Halsman posed NBC comedians against bare white paper, eliminating all defining context, their isolation made them look both frail and funny. Salvidor Dali Most important of all, from the surrealists' exploration of the erotic unconscious, Halsman learned how to combine glamour, sex, and wholesome energy in one portrait. This unusual ability made him Life's favorite photographer for sensual stars like Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot. Halsman's sympathy for surrealism also led to his long, productive friendship with Salvador Dali. Halsman met Dali on assignment in 1941, and over the next three decades they became partners on many projects, including a series of playful tableaux that had all the disturbing irrationality of dreams or a painting by Dali. Their most notable production was "Dali Atomicus", in which the artist, his canvas, furniture, cats, and water all appear suspended in air.
A Retrospective of Philippe Halsman's work was exhibited at National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington.
