Project 2 Surrealism, Identity and Symbolism

Within surrealist portraits and self-portraits there lives a dual reality of the physical and metaphorical self. The concept of identity is treated as a construct in which the artist revolt, creating manipulated representations “of contradiction, fragmentation and decentring.” (Adamowicz, 1996) figures. Identity is juxtaposed against symbols and object as seen in, Rene Magritte’s works such as  “The Great War” (1964) fig 1 and “The Son Of A Man” (1946) fig 2. The utilisation of symbolism and obscurity in Surrealist portraiture as seen in Magritte’s pieces “…manipulate the socially coded face by strategies of disjunction and displacement…” (Adamowicz, 1996). Within “Surrealism : Surrealist Vitality” chapter three “The Surrealist (Self)Portrait: Conclusive Identities” Adamowicz discusses this further

“In the Surrealist quest for a multiple identity or the ‘soluble I’, the individual often merges with the anonymous, where the self as the locus of a coherent identity is displaced or dissolved in the other. In their exploration of self­ identity, the Surrealists experience the double limits of the self, as the multiple other dissolved in anonymity and as the reified self in the mask.” (Adamowicz, 1996).

I find the concept of the ‘soluble I‘ very fascinating as it unshackles the artist from their physically identity in which they can explore a representation of themselves or fragment their multiple personal experiences into a single figure. Adamowicz furthers this notion of the fluid identity through the questioning of the Surrealist artist being ‘in search for not ‘who am I?’ but ‘whom do I haunt?’ (Adamowicz, 1996). I read this questioning and solidifying of symbolisation to create a representation of the self within Japanse artist Yayoi Kusama. With her compulsion around symbols (due to her mental health) such as poka dots and pumpkins as seen in “All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins” (2016) fig 3 Kusama looses herself in her artworks at times quiet literally fig 4.

I would really like to explore identity through the ideas set fourth in Surrealism through fragmentation, symbolism, obscurity and the duality between the physical and mental self.

 

   

Fig 1 “The Great War” (1964)                  Fig 2 “The Son Of A Man” (1946)

Fig 3 “All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins” (2016)     

Fig 4 “Portrait of Yayoi Kusama” (by Victoria Miro)

 

References

Adamowicz, E. Levy, S. (1996) Surrealism : Surrealist Visuality. Keele, Staffordshire: Edinburgh University Press. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=9593&site=ehost-live (Accessed: 4 May 2020).

Images
Rene Magritte, “The Great War” (1964), sourced from https://www.renemagritte.org/the-great-war.jsp
Rene Magritte, “The Son Of A Man” (1946), sourced from https://www.renemagritte.org/the-son-of-man.jsp
Victoria Miro “Portrait of Yayoi Kusama”, sourced from http://artsatmichigan.umich.edu/ink/2019/11/01/the-mesmerizing-work-of-yayoi-kusama/
Yayoi Kusama “All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins” (2016), sourced from http://artsatmichigan.umich.edu/ink/2019/11/01/the-mesmerizing-work-of-yayoi-kusama/