As I have searched for a movement title best applicable to the style of my work and progression of it's experimentation with techniques, process, etc. Pop surrealism came about as a name applicable to a number of artists, like most famously Mark Ryden (though his detailed and painted techniques aren't what make him this), and I think is exactly where my work best fits into a categorization of a new idea or trend in art making.
It is about the same essential subconscious intent and inventive liberation of content - the improv style of working - exploring random connections and free associations, dream imagery, etc. that Surrealism had at its heart and applying that to our modern day, information saturated society where we are bombarded with snippets, fragments of imagery, text, coded messages, media is everywhere and it has changed the essential nature of how we perceive the world both around us and inside our own minds. Marshall McLuhan was way ahead of his time on this but his ideas speak to everything I would define about this kind of art making. It uses samples as if they were colours, it free associates anything and everything and sort of mirrors our world back through the filter of the artists subconscious. The implications of the internet are pushing this into even further territory where access to source material and all types of media is ubiquitous. Pop-Surrealism may not be the perfect header term for what I am getting at but it is as close as I have found and is certainly a term that defines my approach to art and see as an important emerging trend.
--- A COUPLE OF OTHER NOTES ---
• All art submitted should be original / modified in some way at very least. I value the surreal and visual quality of ephemera and found objects, but don't feel they belong here. I hope you understand, if not or you have a diffiirent view of things let us know. I'd love to start some discussion and hear different points of view.
• One thing I would like to mention is that Pop Surrealism to me is something quite different from what is considered 'lowbrow' art. I have read some simply view it as synonymous but for me they are two things that may have emerged from a similar path, but Pop Surrealism is much more sophisticated and does have a concern for aesthetics and beauty (though not always in a traditional sense - I must admit a slight bias that I think beauty and aesthetics have become an under-appreciated aspect of art through recent decades, but something the you might define as 'ugly' can be strikingly beautiful, while othere's just suck and look bad).
Basically I don't want stuff like this on here: www.lowbrowartworld.com/home.html
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I would invite Artists who feel their work best fits this category to submit to my new group work reflecting these qualities. As it is an emerging 'movement' if you like, the group should be open minded to what is shown in it, but I will be tough on anything that doesn't fit what I feel isn't really what I describe and will remove postings that I feel don't fit in, or are not of a decent quality I would like to maintain in this pool.
