Julie's Art Blog

For this Surrealism blog I have selected a painting by Rene Magritte – 1898-1967. He was a Belgian Surrealist artist who is known for depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context. His work is known for challenging the viewers’ preconditioned perceptions of reality. He had a traumatic childhood as his mum committed suicide in 1912 after previous attempts. She drowned herself in a river and supposedly when she was found her dress was over her face which influenced some of his future paintings which featured people with covered faces. During the latter years of his childhood he would have been impacted by WW1. His first exhibition in 1927 in Belgium was heavily criticised which led him to go to Paris where he became friends with Andre Breton. Breton, who was the founder of Surrealism, served in a neurological hospital during WW1 where he used Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical methods with soldiers suffering from shell shock. Freud’s work with free association, dream ana...

For this blog I have selected an automated drawing by Hans (or Jean) Arp – 1886-1966. He was a German/French sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist in other mediums. He moved to Switzerland in 1915 as it was neutral and he feigned mental ill health to avoid being drafted into the German Army. In 1920 he set up the Cologne Dada group. This automated drawing is untitled and is inscribed as 1916. It is ink and pencil on paper. Arp experimented with “automatic drawings”. He was inspired by natural forms such as roots and twigs. He didn’t draw what he could see, instead he would give free rein to his brush and his imagination. He would work quickly and he would deliberately try not to control the drawing he was creating, rather he would allow his subconscious and chance to determine how it looked! To understand why Arp tried this form of art we need to consider the events of the time. The Dada movement consisted of artists who rejected the logic, reason and aest...

Gillian Wearing - born 1963 She is an English conceptual artist, is one of the Young British Artists and winner of 1997 Turner Prize. NB – Young British Artist is the name given to a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in 1988. Many of them were graduates from Goldsmiths in London like Gillian (1990). They became known for their openness to materials and processes, their use of throwaway materials, their shock tactics, their wild living, and their attitude which was both oppositional and entrepreneurial. Gillian’s partner is another YBA, Michael Landy. Her influences include the “up” series which was a documentary that followed the lives of 14 children from age 7 up to age 56, it checked in on them every 7 years. She has an admiration of people who stick to their guns and are true to themselves so go through life without compromising. There are a couple of videos of her dancing in public places at different ages. The videos give the message...