Year 2: Interview Techniques Assignment 2

Interview Techniques Assignment 2 - The Documentary

Secondary Research:

For my documentary I will be exploring the subject of "Surrealism", this is a really unconventional art type, you need to access a almost unconsciousness mindset, this is known as automatism which means automatic drawing, the artist needs to embrace their own emotions and feelings to then create whatever their emotions create, there is no planning to what they are about to create. Surrealistic art work is often strange or weird, its definitely not what you would usually expect from an art piece. Surrealstic art is known as the world of thoughts, dreams and nightmares, this type of art requires a lot of imaginiation, a lot of this art work is spare of the moment.

Surrealism began in the 1920's when WW1 was influencing peoples lives, it was actually found by a poet called Andre Breton in Paris in 1924, the goal was to release deep thoughts and feelings, even irrational onto the paper/canvas. Here is some of Andre Breton's work.

It was Sigmund Freud who found psycho analysis, he had a huge influence on the surrealistic art. He believed that sub-conscious thoughts are represented symbolically in our dreams, we need to be able to look into these dreams to be able to create surrealistic art pieces, artists and writers were inspired by this and used it to help them create art or written work.
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/surrealism

There is different types of surrealistic work, the first being the automatic creates, a lot of people will close their eyes for this work and will complete movements from their mind, this can create really wacky and oddly shaped creations. The second type of art work was more planned out, however it is still seen as surrealistic work, Salvador Dali is known for this method, he uses realistic and ordinary objects and places them or creates them in very odd ways, it really creates some strange work to look at and can almost be seen as hallucigenic.
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-surrealism.htm

Salvador Dali is probably the most well-known surrealistic artist there is and one of the most influential, he peaked in the 20s and 30s in his career. He was known for his unusual wild art and strange personality to go with it, he even said once "The difference between me and the surrealists, is that I am a surrealist". I think what this tells us is that to become a surrealist you need to be as surrealistic as possible, not always thinking normally and realisically is the best way to approach this art type.
https://www.thedaliuniverse.com/en/salvador-dali

Primary Research:

Questionnaire Translation:

Questionnaire:

1. Have you heard of Sigmund Freud and if so who he was and what influence he had on surrealism?

Yeah, he was the brains behind his writings on discovering the unconscious mind, he allowed artists like Salvador Dali to tap into their subconscious and create beautiful works of art which really made surrealism take off in Paris in 1924.

2. What makes an art piece surrealistic?

When it is a true reflection of the artists mind, when it doesn’t make sense and when it can only be interpreted by one person each time.

3. When you create surrealistic art do you try and switch off your brain or conscious in any way?

I get an image in my head and then I always plan it out on the canvas, by drawing it and then selecting the colours that I want to use. After that, I’ll put in some music, it isn’t a particular type of music either, just on shuffle and whatever plays will play and that usually allows me to channel out.

4. Has Salvador Dali influenced any of your work?

I don’t believe that artists should be an influence, I feel you can be inspired by an aspect of their work and admire the artist themselves, but the artist shouldn’t be the influence as you’d only be creating what they think is good art and not what you feel is.

5. What is your opinion on Salvador Dali’s work?

I think it’s beautiful and very creative, clearly he has hidden meanings and subconscious access painted into his artwork to communicate with the audience.

6. Is surrealistic art a better form of art then realistic art?

No, I much prefer realism to surrealism. As interesting as surrealism Is, I think the ability to create life like paintings to the point where they look like photographs is stunning. It takes energy and patience to create both types of artwork but there’s something about the natural talent it takes to paint realistically.

7. Has anyone else influenced your work?

No, I’ve seen other artists and been inspired by their creations but I prefer to come up with my own ideas and designs.

8. What got you into surrealistic art?

It started when I tried and tried painting realistically But couldn’t pull it off, it was then I was ready to accept that maybe I just wasn’t good at painting. But then I could given a set of oil paints, I tested out the colours and drew a simple image of a made up character and painted it. It looked weird and surreal so I did a bit of research and that’s how I came across it.

9. Would you purchase surrealistic art?

Defiantly, I love the weird and surreal stuff from sculptures to paintings. I think it adds character and is definitely a conversation starter.

10. What does this image created by Salvador Dali represent?

It makes me think of how quick time goes and how it would away from right under us, that over time the landscape and places won’t change but we do, our identities do from the clothes we wear to the things we see and perceive. Time slips away and we will change and also slip away eventually, even if we think we have loads of time (hence all the clocks) it will still slip away at the same rate as life goes on.