It’s hard to imagine there was ever a time where the world was not oversaturated with images. No billboards, advertising, 9gag, Instagram, photobooks, or whatsoever. Think about it, how normal we find it to come across images. And how normal we find it to know that these are manipulated.
When photomontage was embraced by the dadaists around the First World War, the artists cut/torn and pasted photographs or photographic reproductions and made a new image. So imagine how surreal that must have been, to see something on a photo that didn’t happen. Photographs were not all around, and before photomontage, what you saw on a picture was “true.” I’m not going into the whole debate of how subjective photography is, but I think it’s fascinating.
Fast forward a hundred years and artists are still obsessed with creating something surreal by placing things together that didn’t belong together in the first place. There are infinite examples and I will make this piece a work in progress and add any artists over time.
So to start, Laure Prouvost’s We Will Feed You, for example. Boobs are not weird, a fountain is not weird, but a boob-fountain hybrid might be categorized as unusual.
The mighty Al Freeman is no example. She quite literally puts to images together that although look alike, are funny when placed together. It might also be hilarious because the internet pictures she finds are mostly ridiculous. (IG: @alfreemanjr)
Sometimes it’s a tad difficult to point out the surreal. Kelia Anne MacCluskey, for example, makes these mesmerizing photographs, but can’t quite pin down what makes it surreal. It’s too easy to say, well, it’s just not something you come across every day. But for now, we have to do it with that. (IG: @kelianne)
No this is not a photoshop fail. Artist Weronika Gesicka uses image banks or images found on the Internet and police archives or old press photography to create images that are just impossible. Love the vintage feel and the not too obvious surrealism. (IG:@wgesicka)
This is it, for now, stay tuned!
© for the artists.
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