Surrealism Photo Shoot

Rene Magritte & Surrealism Reading & Questions

1.     What is surrealism? The irrational juxtaposition of images. These images have both a real and unreal quality to them, making them surreal.

2.     What motif did Magritte use in many of his works? Why was this significant? A man wearing a ‘bowler hat’ because many men, including Magritte, dressed like this during the time period.

3.     In his work Golconda, why is it important that Magritte varied the image of the man in the bowler hat?  How does it add depth to the work? The subtle differences between the men, for instance some have their hands in their pockets, some have briefcases, some are smaller, some are larger. It adds depth because some of the men look further away because they are painted smaller than others. The larger men looking as if they were closer to the front of the painting.

4.     Why did surreal artists choose to create strange worlds with their art? To escape the real world they were being subjected to.

5.     Explain how the techniques of juxtaposition, altered scale, and language help Magritte explore Surrealism.  He enjoyed putting things in places you don’t normally come across them, or juxtaposing, objects with certain scenes to make people curious about the image and why he chose that. He also altered the scaling of certain objects to emphasis them and make the people seeing the art think about that specific point in the work and why it was put there and made so large/small. The language helps juxtapose the images also because usually the words printed on the artwork relate the art itself, however his were different because they did not relate.

6.     What would be a few reasons why Magritte would cover the faces of his subjects? Because of his troubled past and what happened to him when he was young (finding his mother dead with her head covered) or it could also be because the eyes are the window to the soul so he might be hiding the soul of his art, or his own soul from being recognized.

7.     Why did Magritte strive for realism & precision in his paintings? Because he realized he was making things that were surreal and didn’t belong together so he liked the juxtapose his images even more by making them so realistic and correctly done but in a different strange way.

8.     Google more of Magritte’s work and include 2 images that interest you.                                                  

I like this one because the ear looks like a sea shell and is way bigger than the beach which would obviously be much larger than the beach scene in the back had this been a realistic painting.

scale is used in this to emphasis the door, however not much juxtaposition is used because clouds and a beach obviously go together. But the artwork does make you think about why he put the door in the center of the painting.

The Hidden Me

Perception vs. Reality

People often stereotype me as a 'bad kid' because of the friends I have or the types of clothes I wear. Because I choose to make my own jewelry out of hemp and wear a lot of tie dye clothes people often think I'm a 'stoner' or they assume I'm a drug addict because of the clothes I wear or the people I enjoy in my life. However, based on my actions people think I'm a 'nerd' because I'm good at school and I like to learn new things. While these are two completely different stereotypes, and completely wrong representations of me, these are usually what people think of at a first glance. However, neither of these are the real me. I really like just spending time at home with my family, friends, and boyfriend. I love nature and taking hikes. I love my two bunnys, the one that lives in my room and the one that lives on my deck. I'm a pretty simplistic person. I like reading books and basking in the sunlight, taking pictures of the sky and trees, spending quality time with the people I care about, making pottery, and just sitting outside and enjoying the breeze on a beautiful day are the simple things that I live for. But the stereotypes that people hold me to are not simplistic at all. They are a very wrong representation of the person I am and I'm hurt when someone assumes these things of me when that is not the person I am.

poses: sitting up against the wall with my head down, hands on my hips looking sassy, sitting with my hand on my face possibly in a desk, hands on my head looking like I don't care about anything, messy feeling not put together look to the pictures

lighting: single lighting, maybe dimmer than necessary for the 'stoner' stereotype but lighter for the 'nerd' stereotype. possibly make it look like the photos being lit from a desk lamp. lit from the back of my head for the 'stoner' stereotype

clothing: I would wear the normal clothes. hemp bracelets, tie dye shirt, jeans, worn in shoes, and messy, natural hair

outward

inward

Surrealism Inspiring Art

love, love, loveeeee this one!!!

cool because the overlay runs farther than the portrait

enjoy this because it's not my style; looks like they just put the person over a city scape. 

love the whole landscape in the background

love the colors

this almost looks like shes drowning

love the colors in this too

i like that they turned the city to match the portrait

i like that its just her eyes and fades out to leaves 

absolutely love how the trees stay with his head through his beard and everything

I really like most of these because they remind me of a photograph I would make. I love all the trees and leaves and flowers overlaid in the images. I like how some fade of into the natural looking images from the portrait. I couldn't even marrow down the images to just six because I really liked all of them a lot, even the cities in the background instead of nature.