Saturday, June 18, 2011

I Dream of Dada: Surrealism at the Vancouver Art Gallery

Since May 26, the Vancouver Art Gallery has been showcasing a phenomenal new exhibition for the summer of 2011. This is easily the most exciting collection assembled by VAG since their seminal 2004 Andy Warhol exhibit. Entitled The Colour of My Dreams, this year’s exhibition is a stunning collection of Surrealist art.

For the uninitiated,Surrealism was an aesthetic and philosophical movement that arose in 1920s Paris. French writer André Breton was heavily influenced by the Dadaist belief that excessive rational thought and capitalist bourgeois values had given rise to the First World War. After serving as a military doctor during WWI, Breton and like-minded artists produced writings that, although initially thought as gibberish and nonsense, were actuallybecause VAG has chosen to show local indigenous art pieces alongside the Surrealist works. It is revealed that some of these artists have made pilgrimages to British Columbia during the period and they were undoubtedly influenced by the local native art. It is bold and startling to see seemingly disparate oeuvre not only displayed side-by-side, but to see just where influence and vision originated, and where it has advanced and informed the Surrealist movement.

On a recent visit, the Blogger was particularly taken by the inclusion of several films in the collection. Surrealism invaded all art forms at its zenith, which coincided with the height of the silent film era. Film directors immersed in and influenced by the movement sought to expand beyond conventional narrative and instead evoked feeling