(How) Is surrealism used in narrative imagery to portray a sense of identity? The surrealism art movement was developed principally in the early 20th century aimed to resolve the contradictive ideas of what was real and what was just a piece of our imagination. Surrealism is sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind and tap in to the deep depths of the mind that alter how oneself envision the environment, whether they are objects distorted to match the mood or atmosphere of the artist, or simply, by using the irrational juxtaposition of images and mix of expressionism to achieve this surreal effect of tone. Due to the advances in technology over the decades, today’s generation have far more of an advantage of creating surreal art pieces, in comparison to the previous decades when paintbrush and canvas was still the main tool and trend used to create surreal art we see today in art galleries and exhibitions. Today, a vast majority of surreal art is created using photo manipulation techniques and editing software such as Adobe Photoshop as well as graphic tablets to help refine designs and get a more professional and substantial “clean” look. However, there are more ingenious ways to create surreal art because there is more access to resources in this time period compared to the early 20th century. In this essay I will explore how narrative imagery is used to portray a sense of identity and question if identity of the artist is really relevant to the array creations of surreal art they produce. I will also look at the work of the artists, Edward Honaker, Julien Pacaud and Daisuke Takakura to reinforce my points and perceptions of surrealism/identity and comment on how they express surrealism in their work. I will also be using the quote: "You Focus on the Trivial, and lose sight of what is most important, change is impossible in this fog of ignorance. How can we evolve when Regulation is all we know?" – by Masashi Kishimoto to support my hypothesis of whether identity plays a role in surrealism. My perception of Kishimoto’s quote is that we look to proceed in life focusing on the insignificant things that we think will have a huge impact on our lives rather than focusing on what we already have and thinking about how we can use those gifts or abilities to achieve greater and this is what we are brainwashed into believing. Hence, the artists below that I have chosen research are key candidates to proving this quote literally, through the context of their background, beliefs and the effect of their art work. Edward Honaker (Artist 1) is a twenty one-year-old photographer who documents his own depression in powerful self-portraits. This sense of trauma and self-documentation of his struggles creates a deeper sense of emotion and evokes a powerful depth of imagery to the narratives he shares with audiences. The series of black and white images illustrates the photographer’s experience with depression and anxiety. All his photographs manage to relate to a story or real situation at a time in his life. It almost feels as if we are spectators to this spectacle of work and are being manipulated into identifying closely with these aspects to some extent. The subtle tones and nostalgic photography edits merged with the careful clothing of the male figures in most of his pictures, are what makes our souls resonate with his surreal approaches to mental health and the world that we shape around us. In an interview Honaker states “I’m hoping that these images will help open up conversation about mental health issues. Everyone is or will be affected by them one way or another, and ignoring them doesn’t make things better (September 24-2015).” Honaker’s artistic photography style is evidence of this in a very dangerous way, hence the deep contrasts of shadows and lighting which reinforces the surreal/dystopian world we are perceived to live in when we as spectators view his work. Similarly, Honaker’s style almost suggests a surreal art movement approach because people are always contradicting what is true and what is fake in reality. Most times people do not have an answer and are forced to accept the truth at some stage in their life. Therefore, they
live a pessimistic lifestyle until the truth finds them, resulting that everyone is affected by the truth in some way, and it is not something that you can hide from. Below are a few examples of his photographic documents:
Moreover, the limited yet consistent uses of the black and white tones help to guide your eyes around the page and form the piece subtly in the viewers mind. Patterns on the wallpaper or less important information such as the curtain drapes (in the image on the right) are used in the background to give the design depth as well as a strong use of scale to make some aspects more dominant. The more dominant aspects in this piece are the suit that the male figure is wearing, the body language of the figure and most importantly, the long exposure of the face. This is all important because without either of them, the piece wouldn’t function properly and the photograph wouldn’t be effective or look very original and powerful. It almost tells the story of someone who is confused but is grounded to the chair, contemplating their final decision. This is suggested by the body language of the male figure and the “quick” motion of the face looking left to right, but has been depicted as a blur to viewers. It is clearly obvious that Honaker’s style is very fluent when connecting with viewers to aid the bond of mental illness and manipulating viewers to ponder on the thought of what reality truly is. Not to mention, a brief sense of identity is almost touched upon in Honaker’s work. But how does he do this and what effects take place on the viewers for them to associate Honaker’s documentation with their own emotions? Honaker does this by expressing values and themes, such as, loneliness, solitude, depression, and different forms of characterisation of male figures in his photographs. He is able to make emotional connections simply through the use of black and white filters, and attacking everyday social problems where people feel, lonely and want to hide away from the world, simply making his work genius when he shares his narratives with viewers. For instance almost everybody can relate to a time when they did not want to be seen, or just want to stay hidden for a period of time, and the picture below on the left is a great indicator to this feeling. Although Honaker’s representation has a different meaning to us, we can still relate to the matter of the subject and appreciate the social attitudes we feel too. The quote made by Masashi Kishimoto above (in the introduction) is valid because it is often a vague issue people face every day in life. All we know is rules and we lose sight on evolving ourselves to become better humans.
Julien Pacaud (Artist 2) is a 41 French artist and illustrator, living and working in Paris, France. Before becoming an illustrator, he was, by turns: an astrophysician, an international snooker player, a hypnotist and an Esperanto teacher. He hopes he can someday have enough free time to devote himself to his real passion: time travel. Pacaud mixes vintage illustrations and photography (from the 1900s to the 1970s) with geometric art and out of this world landscapes, creating unique and witty tributes to surrealism (he is a self-admitted fan of Magritte), pop art and old science-fiction. Pacaud (Artist 2) uses his photography in a pop art style to attract people of all ages and imaginations. His graphic pieces consist of a limited colour palette, full of vibrant colours and tones which often set a surreal depth of emotion, such as spontaneous or sporadic moments within his graphic narratives to create either subliminal dangerous messages or bold and glorious messages depending on what is going on in the piece and the colours that are used. It is highly evident that the ideas behind Pacaud’s graphic pieces contradict society with science fiction sources such as, space-like atmosphere’s or with the earth’s settings chopped and placed within the frame or adapting on the appearance of disfigured people to evoke gender; almost like a film. Pacaud creates a surreal and powerful depth of imagery to his emphasis of narrative by greatly extending his use of software skills to create strong compositions. He achieves this effect by adjusting layers, filters and manipulating images with loosely cut out photographs of everyday life and the environment, then merge all of them together to create a solid dramatised story. All of Pacaud’s surreal images manage to relate to a story or real situation, perhaps a situation that he has encountered in his own personal life whether they are dreams or perhaps an adaptation from a film he may have watched, or a situation of events that he has managed to observe every day but with his talent of twisting reality with science fiction, he maintains this effect and creates new ideas which become surreal narratives. It almost feels as if we are spectators to this spectacle of work and are being manipulated into feeling the exact same way as Pacaud and observe the world through his eyes. Moreover, the simple harmonising colour palette helps to bring the narrative to life as it all blends rather profoundly and has many simple yet effective nostalgic emotions upon
viewers. Generally, it helps to guide the viewer’s eyes around the page. By doing this, Julien Pacaud creates mesmerising fictional spaces that welcome the viewer with a stirring clash of the strange and the familiar. Respectively, Pacaud concentrates particularly on “retro” visuals from the 1900s to the 1970s where social attitudes to art and surrealism were unique in the sense that everything had a position in life hence, Pacaud’s strong taste for the geometric shapes he produces as well as the scenes and environments that playfully evoke the fascinating mythology of a not-too-distant future. All which are whimsical yet cleverly simple, with the combination of dynamic compositions and captivating dreams, disguised as surreal art graphic pieces. Furthermore, Julien Pacaud never fails to create exception graphic pieces where the ideas and compositions are different from the previous one. Examples, of this can be seen below:
In an interview with The Plus Paper – Julien Pacaud states “I have to find photos that inspire me… I don’t have a precise idea of what I’ll do when I start working on a piece; I trust my instinct, and not so much my intellect.” This way of creating is definitely evident in Pacaud’s pieces, which is what makes them so spontaneous and fascinating for viewers. It also creates strong emotional bonds between the characters, settings and colours with the viewer. The use of found imagery stimulates the mind and manipulates viewers to experience retro/vintage styles in a modern way. In a similar way to Honaker (Artist 1), Pacaud is also very fluent when connecting with viewers to aid the bond of surrealism and identity. However, Honaker uses photo manipulation and photography techniques to illustrate moods and emotions of his own due to his own personal background, hence the dark contrasts of black and white filters and surreal Photoshop effect tools such as, liquify, motion blur and double exposure. Whereas, Pacaud uses secondary images to create the work he does. Secondary images from books, magazines and catalogues are what enable him to re-create that retro sense of atmosphere among as stated by The Plus Paper. Furthermore, Pacaud’s intentions of creating these narratives display different themes in contrast to Honaker’s visual art style and photography. Honaker’s main themes were loneliness and depression. Whereas, Pacaud’s themes and values differ, concentrating more on characters looking for a sense of belonging as they lack in identity.
Some would say that this perhaps. There is a key theme of reality in Pacaud’s work which is presented in a surreal way, hence the titles of each piece to manipulate the viewer to think the same way as Pacuad.
Subsequently, Daisuke Takakura (Artist 3) is a Japanese photographer who focuses on theatrical elements within his style of photography. He mainly identifies with staged photos, portraits and fine art as he has a high interest in theatre. Moreover, Takakura is mostly recognised for his “Monodramatic” project which also focuses on elements of staged theatre and design. It is highly evident that the ideas behind Takakura’s graphic pieces describe communication with himself as a person and it appears to represent many various effects that humans can have on society. I guess this could be recognised as a “movement “, regarding how we as humans condone ourselves through our actions within life.
Studying the work of Takakura was uplifting as he showed a unique way in presenting contemporary art work with the use of his “clones”. Hence, the way he illustrates his clones doing multiple things in a constrained environment which entirely fills up the canvas, creating many questions as to why the clones are there and what the purpose of them being there are. Takakura also balances compositions effectively by changing and manipulating the characteristics of each clone and the exposure/saturation of the photograph. All his photographs have an allegorical feel to it as if the image relates to a story or real situation. It almost feels as if there is a moral message to this image. Maybe the moral is to appreciate and accept who you are as a person or that you are not as unique as you think you are because there may be many people just like you in the world, but because you don’t see it, you assume you are different. As for the mood of his photography style, the mood of the artwork seems rather mellow/calm. This is suggested by the use of colour and the blank/energetic and happy expressions on some of the clones’ faces. Again, his compositions are effective because although they can seem randomly placed at times the images are balanced dividing the photograph into thirds or quarters by the
placement of dominant images or colour areas, note, most of his colours in his piece are complimentary to the clothes that the “clones” are wearing or simply the environment they are in. For, example the use of limited colours helps to guide your eyes around the page and hold the design together; making sure nothing looks distorted or unrealistic Overall, Takakura’s photography style is rather extraordinary as the atmosphere of each individual clone and composition such as, the shot angles used to capture this narrative-all possibly done to create a feeling of identity draw viewers in to align with the possible story. Takakura has really set his standards high in the pieces he makes because it's is difficult to make every clone look realistic in terms of shadow/lighting/composition, and to make them look interactive. It almost is an abstract piece of photography and editing. The atmosphere of all the clones different emotions are overwhelming and tend to create a subtle yet effective impact on the viewer due to the blend of colours. The greens and yellows in the second image as well as the skin tone colours complement each other; making the photographs look smooth and consistent. Very similar to Edward Honaker, (Artist 1) they both focus on human interaction, between themselves and how the models in their pieces can get the imagination to reality. However, Julien Pacaud (Artist 2) differs from both Artist 1 and 2 because, its not so much about how he as an artist is able to communicate his personal emotions with an audience, but how he can manipulate the emotions, thoughts and feelings of an image of another person to convey a message.
Below are a few examples of the work Takaura deals with:
In the pieces above, the grouping of the clones could be viewed as one of the greatest assets of Takakura’s work. Suggesting that if they were separated the photograph may not have had such a huge significance of identity and closeness. The pieces would almost seem deserted and the piece would probably evoke different emotions and wouldn’t look interactive. However, someone may argue that the separation of the clones could be used to depict the distant and morbid tone the artist may be feeling at that time also suggesting that the smiles on their faces are a façade.
To conclude, my chosen quote by Masashi Kishimoto has proven that within photography and graphic design, surrealism is used in narrative imagery to portray a sense of identity. This is through the use of camera angles and other factors such as lighting, use of models and environment in which the narrative takes place. However, the most important factor is recognising that cultural differences and personal experiences hinder the imagination to depict surreal artwork - one’s fantasies may be another’s illusion or dream. When analysing surreal art forms the main questions needed to be asked are, what is surreal art and what isn’t surreal? To answer that question – it may not be possible because It really depends on who we are and what we’ve been through. In hindsight, the surrealist point of perception is so difficult to understand that we cannot make an extended judgment for others. Below is my narrative outcome, heavily inspired by Pacaud’s use of composition techniques and colour palette. My intentions of my narrative was to establish how surrealism used in narrative portrays a sense of identity. Furthermore, I tried to use Takakura’s clone technique in a simplistic way, however juxtaposed the facial expression hypothesis by turning/hiding the characters’ faces in the piece. As for where Honkaer’s style takes place in this narrative, I used dark tones as well as black and white filters to evoke dramatic effects. In hindsight, if I were to create this piece again I would focus more on Honaker’s style and research a varied amount of film posters to create alternative designs, other than that I am pleased with my outcome.
Bibliography: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/surrealism https://www.ignant.com/2015/09/24/photographer-edward-honaker-documents-his-owndepression/ http://www.julienpacaud.com/personal-work http://www.thepluspaper.com/2014/12/04/julien-pacaud-digital-collagist/ https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-Itachi-Uchiha-quotes