Thinking About Surrealism

I have always been curious about Surrealist art, however I never quite understand the ideas conveyed in the various artworks I have seen.  After reading the excerpt from Alastair Brotchie's Book of Surrealist Games, I am beginning to see Surrealism as a new way of thinking, one that promotes true intuition and creativity in ways other subject areas do not.  Brotchie states that Surrealist games "intend to free words and images form the constraints of rational and discursive order," which speaks to the idea that the unconscious mind holds interesting and valuable things, free from any sort of boundaries we may hold ourselves to.  I loved reading about the different Surrealist games that can be done individually or in collaboration, which would be great in a classroom setting.  I tried out the game "Definitions or Question and Answer" with my suitemate, which proved to indeed conjure up "remarkable facts."  We each had to write down a question, fold over the paper to conceal it, and then each write an answer to the other's question without knowing what the question was.  It was interesting that we both wrote questions concerning happiness, but our results were as follows:

What is something that always makes you happy?

When there is a light breeze rustling the leaves.

How does one find happiness?

It takes a long time to let go.

I have also done a variation of automatic drawing for another course where we were required to keep a sketchbook and draw from our subconscious.  For me, the mere fact that this was an assignment contradicted the goal of creating subconscious drawings, but I did find the task very challenging.  After this week's readings, I feel as if Surrealism does not have to be a challenge if one is in the right frame of mind by playing these games and allowing room for open-mindedness.

I found the Surrealist Manifesto interesting as well, as it encourages art educators to "tell [their] students that true poetic thought brings justice as well as freedom.  Remember together our passion and our power."  i think being able to convey this in a classroom setting would bring out passion in students and allow them to think openly in a different way than they may be used to, which may cause new ideas to emerge.  Importantly, these project ideas such as layering images or looking into ink blots can be appropriate for all age levels to encourage impulsive choices and the freeing of one's intuition.

"Surrealist games produce art, but more importantly they produce new knowledge-fresh ways of looking at old situations." (Surrealist Scientific Research Bureau)