A Trippy New Book Surveys 100 Years of Art Since the Birth of the Surrealist Movement

Glenn Brown, “When We Return You Won’t Recognise Us.” Image © Glenn Brown. All images courtesy of Monacelli, shared with permission

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of surrealism, an enduring movement the poet André Breton sparked in 1924. Countless artists across disciplines have been inspired by the uncanny, unconscious, and fantatstic, a few of which are celebrated in a forthcoming book written by Robert Zeller.

New Surrealism: The Uncanny in Contemporary Painting, published by Monacelli later this month, chronicles the history of the artistic and political movement from its birth amid World War I to more contemporary interests. Featuring major influences like the aforementioned Breton, Sigmund Freud, and the Dadaists, the 336-page primer travels through the century to highlight the artists, exhibitions, and events that profoundly impacted the genre. The book highlights surrealist icons like Remedios Varo, Salvador Dalí, and Leonora Carrington, along with artists working in the tradition today, including Arghavan Khosravi, Miles Johnston, and Ewa Juskiewicz, whose portrait of a swathed woman graces the cover.

An insightful survey that illuminates the connections between art and politics, New Surrealism is a valuable overview of one of the most influential movements in Western art history. Pre-order your copy on Bookshop.

 

Arghavan Khosravi, “Ascension.” Image courtesy of Rachel Uffner Gallery

Miles Johnston, “The Would”

Lenz Geerk., “The Game.” Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, image © Lenz Geerk

Alessandro Keegan, “Lumen”

Pierre Roy, “Danger on the Stairs.” Image © MOMA, Artists Rights Society, New York

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A New Film Documents Kerry James Marshall’s Dynamic Stained Glass Windows for the Washington National Cathedral

How do you revise a narrative that some still believe true? And, how do you change that story to focus on perseverance and reform when the fight for justice is ongoing?

In 2017, two stained glass windows commemorating Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson were removed from the Washington National Cathedral. When Kerry James Marshall (previously) was commissioned to create their replacements, he grappled with these questions, ultimately offering a dynamic pair of works installed this September.

A new short film for Art21’s Extended Play series documents the artist’s process and thinking behind the monumental windows, which were made in collaboration with stained-glass artisan Andrew Goldkuhle. The vibrant pieces depict anonymous protestors engaged in a peaceful demonstration. Some figures holding signs saying “No,” “No Foul Play,” and “Fairness,” slogans inspired by a speech by Chicago’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington. The phrases connect a basic principle of the U.S. Constitution with that of dishonesty and crimes and reflect the need to redress wrongs.

“We tend to make celebrities the focal point of any kind of achievement when for the most part, almost all the achievements we experience are the work of a vast number of anonymous and unidentified people who put in the work on a day-to-day basis,” Marshall says. The title of both the windows and the documentary, “Now and Forever,” reflects this dedication to showing up and striving for a better world each day.

No matter how much progress we make, the artist reminds us, “achievement doesn’t necessarily mean complacency.”

Watch the full film above and find more about the project on Art21.

 

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Hugh Hayden Untangles American Mythology with Overgrown Sculptures and Skewed Installations

Installation view of “The end,” NGV Triennial, Melbourne. Photo by Sean Fennessy. All images shared with permission

In a trio of ongoing exhibitions, Hugh Hayden (previously) tackles American myth-making, unraveling the incomplete and ignored narratives that ground our politics and culture.

For the National Gallery of Victoria Triennial, Hayden installed “The end,” a grade-school classroom complete with wooden desks and a mirrored blackboard. Educational settings are a recurring in the artist’s practice, and he pairs the motif with three dodo skeletons. The flightless birds were native to Mauritius and one of the first species to go extinct because of European hunting and deforestation on the island.

Tying this colonial eradication to academics, Hayden roots out the ways colonialism and its tenets continue to undermine the educational system and highlights the loss inherent within the African diaspora.

 

“Huff and a Puff” (2023), deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. Photo by Mel Taing

“Huff and a Puff” similarly probes historical narratives. Permanently installed at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusettes, the small wooden cabin is a replica of Henry David Thoreau’s home at Walden Pond. Slanted a surreal 20 degrees, the building skews what’s typically thought of as a birthplace of American self-reliance, environmental consciousness, and capitalist critique.

“‘Huff and A Puff’ is about perspective, not only in terms of its physical experience but also conceptually, given that for some people, the world is not so easy to live in,” the artist says. Given its angled construction, the cabin would be uncomfortable, if not impossible, to occupy without bending or contorting one’s body to fit.

 

Installation view of ‘Hugh Hayden: Hughman’ at Lisson Gallery, Los Angeles. Image © Hugh Hayden, courtesy of Lisson Gallery

And finally, in his first solo show in Los Angeles, Hayden considers “the prosthetics of power,” or the artificial structures that can be weaponized for control and authority. Titled Hughman, the exhibition is entirely hidden behind a row of black bathroom stalls that must be opened to see the works, an act associated with privacy and rife with discrimination given the current proliferation of bathroom bills.

Inside is the artist’s play on an origin story. A twist on the anatomical models found in doctors’ offices, “Eve” is a wooden sculpture of a pregnant body with a baby curled inside. Other works include various types of seating—a director’s chair, school desk, and toilet—made impossible to use by branches jutting out from their sides or their flimsy, bristle construction.

Hughman is on view through January 13 at Lisson Gallery, while “The end” is up through April 7 in Melbourne. For deeper insight into Hayden’s work, pick up American Vernacular published earlier this year and also on Colossal’s Best Books of 2023 list, and find more on Instagram.

 

Installation view of “The end,” NGV Triennial, Melbourne. Photo by Sean Fennessy

Installation view of “The end,” NGV Triennial, Melbourne. Photo by Sean Fennessy

“Huff and a Puff” (2023), deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. Photo by Mel Taing

“Brainwash” (2023),
PVC and nylon bristles, 33 x 26 x 29 inches. Image © Hugh Hayden, courtesy of Lisson Gallery

“Eve” (2023), cherry bark and acrylic on resin, black walnut,
25 x 15 x 10 inches. Image © Hugh Hayden, courtesy of Lisson Gallery

Installation view of ‘Hugh Hayden: Hughman’ at Lisson Gallery, Los Angeles. Image © Hugh Hayden, courtesy of Lisson Gallery

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Expansive Landscapes Spill from Tiny Frames in Detailed Miniature Dioramas by A House of Wonders

All images © House of Wonders, shared with permission

“I didn’t really set out with the intention of making miniatures. They just turned out that way,” says artist Caroline Dewison of A House of Wonders. For several years, the Warrington, England-based artist experimented with beads and clay to make small sculptures, but she was never quite satisfied. “It began with making little mossy patches on clay pieces, sourcing materials I found in model railway layouts, which I immediately fell in love with,” she says. “Seeing how others recreated such realistic scenes was really inspiring, so I bought some scenery supplies, and the ideas just grew.”

Small enough to hold in the palm of your hand, Dewison’s vistas open up far into the distance. Inspired by the woodlands around her home and holiday walks through the Lake District, the artist began to recreate mystical scenes of streams, shorelines, and hills. “The natural world has always filled me with a sense of wonder,” she says. “I grew up in the days where you could disappear all day as long as you were home for tea, and I spent a lot of my time exploring the woods and fields near our house.”

Using Jesmonite—a mixture of gypsum and water-based acrylic resin—to fashion frames, plus a lightweight MDF for the backgrounds, Dewison sources a range of small boxes, model-making supplies, and acrylic paints to create each intricate scene. For landscapes, she particularly enjoys using a type of clay that melds the malleability of clay with the strength of epoxy, plus a favorite 3D-printing pen. “I’m amazed at the fact you can just press a button and magic something out of thin air,” she says.

Find more of Dewison’s work on A House of Wonders’ Instagram and website.

 

 

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Otherworldly Zip-Tie Sculptures by Sui Park Crawl Across Galleries and Sprout in City Parks

“Microcosm 2.” All images © Sui Park, shared with permission

Evoking sea anemones, bulbous spores, and supple, round cells, Sui Park’s zip-tie sculptures seamlessly meld the organic and synthetic. The New York-based artist (previously) continues to weave scores of industrial nylon cables into works that appear to scale gallery walls and spawn in dense clusters in public spaces.

Park’s latest projects include “City Ecology,” a collection of 32 sculptures nested in the flower beds and landscaping of Bella Azbug Park in Hudson Yards. Tucked within the lush greenery and dried, autumn leaves, the works are vivid, otherworldly additions to a green space within the city.

After hand-dyeing the plastic materials into bright, bold colors, Park often interlaces the simple stripes into biomorphic forms in blue, red, or yellow. Some of her more recent works, though, entwine ties of various hues to explore what emerges through connection. “In ‘Fermented Mixture’ and ‘Molecule,’ I mix different colors that represent various characters or groups, and I wear them in an attempt to create a new entity that is solely possible through complex relations between them,” she tells Colossal.

“City Ecology” is on view in New York through the end of the year. Park is currently working on a piece that reflects the ocean-atmosphere at twilight, which you can follow on her site and Instagram.

 

“City Ecology.” Photo by Gabby Jones, courtesy of HYHK Alliance

“City Ecology.” Photo by Gabby Jones, courtesy of HYHK Alliance

“City Ecology.” Photo by Gabby Jones, courtesy of HYHK Alliance

“Symbiosis 1”

“Sprinkle”

“Fermented Mixture”

“City Ecology.” Photo by Gabby Jones, courtesy of HYHK Alliance

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Meticulously Animated in Stop-Motion, ‘Up in Smoke’ Warns of Impending Climate Catastrophe from Burning Fossil Fuels

A lone figure navigates swiftly vanishing terrain in a moving new stop-motion video from NOMINT (previously). Produced for WWF and presented this week as part of COP28, “Up in Smoke” follows a young woman as she floats on a melting ice floe, watches her home disintegrate, and witnesses wild animals unable to escape the toxic fumes.

A year in the making, the film included a full month dedicated to shooting entirely in-camera. “We employed a unique production process, integrating stop-motion animation with real smoke and using a full-color, 3D-printing technique to create over 700 unique sculptures for different poses of the girl,” the studio says.

“Up in Smoke” is set to a moving rendition of “When the Party’s Over” by The Social Singing Choir from Margate, originally performed by Billie Eilish and written by Finneas O’Connell. The song exposes the dynamic of an unhealthy relationship, emphasizing how unclear or deceptive messages lead to an emotional tug-of-war about the future.

As the scenes unfold, the central character bounds away from a plume of smoke, which destroys everything in its path. We’re reminded that burning fossil fuels is the primary driver of the climate crisis, and world leaders are encouraged to end reliance on coal, oil, and gas in favor of renewable energy.

Explore more work by NOMINT on the studio’s website, and learn more about the COP28 World Climate Action Summit.

 

All images © NOMINT, shared with permission

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A New Book Contains Dozens of Rare Photos of Salvador Dalí’s Seaside Home and Studio

All images © Coco Capitán and Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, VEGAP, Barcelona, courtesy of Apartamento, shared with permission

A perfectly ovoid egg perched atop a dovecote, a taxidermy rhino with a wide, outstretched wingspan, and a sleek pink couch in the shape of Mae West’s lips are not uncommon sights in the seaside home of Salvador Dalí (previously). Now compiled in a revealing new book published by Apartamento, rare photographs by Coco Capitán document the surrealist domain that vacillates between private space and architectural artwork in its own right.

Casa Dalí spans 96 pages of images that spotlight the small home on Spain’s Costa Brava that Dalí and his wife Gala bought in 1930 and transformed into a characteristically dreamlike space: a snarling lion peers out from under a geometric archway, small figurines stand guard encircling an outdoor water feature, and a regal canopy sweeps high above two identical beds. The slim volume also features an introduction by architect Oscar Tusquets, who was friends with Dalí and frequented the home where the artist spent the last 15 years of his life.

Captured in the summer light of golden hour that Dalí reportedly loved so much, Capitán’s photos glimpse the eccentric space while leaving some details—like the partially revealed contents of the artist’s bookshelves or a cabinet holding paints and other supplies—to the viewer’s imagination.

Casa Dalí is currently available from Apartamento. You also might enjoy Dalí’s cookbook and guide to wine. (via It’s Nice That)

 

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