Surrealism and I'ts Connection

Surrealism been beginning in the late 1910's to early 1920's was a movement concerned with first poets and writers, it wasn't until later on that artists became involved. It began as a way to express the subconscious of the mind; automatic writing and poems were created on the spot, a spontaneity within writing. Strong influences were taken from Sigmund Freud aswell as Karl Marx. Surrealism became official in 1924 when the Manifesto of Surrealism was written by poet and critic Andre Breton.
It was because of this spontaneity that held artists apart from the poets; the poets believing that art is a thing produced using time therefore it is impossible to be spontaneous in its creation.
However artists such as Picasso, Duchamp, Miro, Dali and many more joined the movement; and soon their work was seen as strongly surrealist just like the work of Breton and other poets was seen.


Joan Miro



Salvador Dali

Rene Magritte

The Spectral Attitudes

I attach no importance to life
I pin not the least of life's butterflies to importance
I do not matter to life
But the branches of salt the white branches
All the shadow bubbles
And the sea-anemones
Come down and breathe within my thoughts
They come from tears that are not mine
From steps I do not take that are steps twice
And of which the sand remembers the flood-tide
The bars are in the cage
And the birds come down from far above to sing before these bars
A subterranean passage unites all perfumes
A woman pledged herself there one day
This woman became so bright that I could no longer see her
With these eyes which have seen my own self burning
I was then already as old as I am now
And I watched over myself and my thoughts like a night watchman in an immense factory Keeping watch alone
The circus always enchants the same tramlines
The plaster figures have lost nothing of their expression
They who bit the smile's fig
I know of a drapery in a forgotten town
If it pleased me to appear to you wrapped in this drapery
You would think that your end was approaching
Like mine
At last the fountains would understand that you must not say Fountain
The wolves are clothed in mirrors of snow
I have a boat detached from all climates
I am dragged along by an ice-pack with teeth of flame
I cut and cleave the wood of this tree that will always be green
A musician is caught up in the strings of his instrument
The skull and crossbones of the time of any childhood story
Goes on board a ship that is as yet its own ghost only
Perhaps there is a hilt to this sword
But already there is a duel in this hilt
During the duel the combatants are unarmed
Death is the least offence
The future never comes

The curtains that have never been raised
Float to the windows of houses that are to be built
The beds made of lilies
Slide beneath the lamps of dew
There will come an evening
The nuggets of light become still underneath the blue moss
The hands that tie and untie the knots of love and of air
Keep all their transparency for those who have eyes to see
They see the palms of hands
The crowns in eyes
But the brazier of crown and palms
Can scarcely be lit in the deepest part of the forest
There where the stags bend their heads to examine the years
Nothing more than a feeble beating is heard
From which sound a thousand louder or softer sounds proceed
And the beating goes on and on
There are dresses that vibrate
And their vibration is in unison with the beating
When I wish to see the faces of those that wear them
A great fog rises from the ground
At the bottom of the steeples behind the most elegant reservoirs of life and of wealth
In the gorges which hide themselves between two mountains
On the sea at the hour when the sun cools down
Those who make signs to me are separated by stars
And yet the carriage overturned at full speed
Carries as far as my last hesitation
That awaits me down there in the town where the statues of bronze
and of stone have changed places with statues of wax Banyans banyans.

Andre Breton

What I want to grasp from the movement of Surrealism is the spontaneity, and the prospect of not having to connect everything together. In our zine we wish to combine four completely unrelated subjects together; we want to combine them in a manner that is either completely nonsensical, for example in our zine you may see a marble statue with a smurfettes head, or a tattooed film character wearing a skirt made from wallpaper. No connection or understanding is required whilst looking upon our zine, it asks for no interpretation. The influence of Surrealism is clear as you look through the zine, however we have discussed this matter taking into account not only our own zine, but zines that you find all the time.
A recurring theme within zines appears to be the surrealist idea of putting many different things together to create something that doesn't make sense, yet at the same time does. I believe because of this recurring theme, that zines have to be approached with an open mind.