Poetry and Dream, Surrealism and Beyond (Tate Modern)

"For the poets and artists of the Surrealist movement, dreams stood for all aspects of the world repressed by rationalism and convention." Matthew Gale, Tate Modern.

This collection of work has inspired me, it has led me to find strong bridges between Surrealism and my artwork. Currently my intention is to strengthen the communication of my work and differentiate between art therapy and fine art. I believe that my answers may lye within the works and artists focusing on Surrealism. I have selected three installations included, and reviewed them as separate bodies along with a background of the artist's intentions.

Jannis Kounellis

Untitled

1979

This installation is the first piece in the collection, we see the space used in a theatrical way merging drawing with object, reality and fiction become one. Here the birds are said to symbolise "the death throes of imaginative freedom", it appears the artist is using the simple line drawings of desolate streets and elongated buildings to express a stale and uninteresting existence, one where the final amounts of creativity are being destroyed. The simplicity and lack of drawing skill involved is intentional and allows a connection between the artwork and the onlooker, as though this scene could be created or imagined by everyone. I feel that this work talks to its audience by allowing this communication to take place.

Robert Therrien

Red Room

2000-2008

Here we see a mixed media installation, the objects within are usual and every day items. The onlooker is invited to peer inside the room but not to enter it. A narrative is created which describes an ownership to the belongings and the actual room itself. According to the artist in this scenario the objects are that of "a Father, a Mother and two small children, all with red hair." I enjoy the idea, in a fine art context, of an imagined ownership to an object, installation or sculpture. It provides a fantastical element to the artwork and allows us to question, is this artwork or reality?

Joseph Beuys

The Pack

1969

Beuys talks of an emergency object "...in a state of emergency the volkswagon is of limited usefulness, and more direct and primitive means must be taken to ensure survival." The back of the vehicle empties multiple sledges onto the gallery floor, positioned in a way that allows the objects to take on living characteristics. The work relates directly to a plane crash where the artist was rescued by nomadic tartars, who saved his life by covering his body in animal fat and wrapping him in felt. Here we see a personal narrative being communicated through the universally appreciated, human survival. Although as the onlooker we may not have experienced a life threatening scenario we can relate to objects as commodity compared to those as necessity.

In all three examples a relationship seems to take place between the artwork and the onlooker, as though we imagine ourselves as part of the created reality. The nature of the work allows us to surrender to a narrative, the story becomes convincing and realistic. For example we do not believe that Red Room belongs to a family, however on a level we allow ourselves to make believe the scenario as part of the poetic fairy tale.