True Surrealist art

Where is it? Surrealist art today has been hijacked by the ignorant! There seems to be very little new true surrealism. There are many sites out there on the internet displaying wonderful surrealist artwork and it's a pleasure to see but all too often I visit web sites claiming to be galleries of surrealist art only to find something that can only be categorised as simply unusual.
Don't misunderstand me! I like looking at unusual stuff. Unusual pictures are interesting and often clever (I have some unusual pieces of art on my own web site amongst the surrealist art), but does that make them surreal? Well, no, it doesn't.
The Oxford English dictionary (the only correct dictionary for the English language) defines Surrealism as such:

surrealism
• noun an avant-garde 20th-century movement in art and literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images.

Technically, although simply put, this is correct. So, what is my point? Well, my point is this....If you create some piece of artwork and it initially has a meaning to it, if it makes sense no matter how strange, before you start, then it, by definition, is not surreal. I should know this. I have created a few pieces of work that some might consider surrealist, but I don't categorise it as such because I knew what went into its creation. It might be weird to look at, it may well be highly unusual. It could even be Psychedelic, but IT ISN'T SURREALISM.
How do I know this? Easy. Andre Breton told me. Not directly of course because he buggered off and died before I was born, but, in 1924, he did write it all down for everybody to read. He called it the "Manifesto of Surrealism". This manifesto laid out the nature of what it is and how it was developed and true surrealists today try to live by that in their creations. They may also tell you that it is not an easy thing to do, but greater satisfaction comes from it than simply creating something "weird".
Let it flow out of you like an unprovoked jellyfish is what I say. I think Andre Breton said it best when he wrote:
"Surrealism is the "invisible ray" which will one day enable us to win out over our opponents. "You are no longer trembling, carcass." This summer the roses are blue; the wood is of glass. The earth, draped in its verdant cloak, makes as little impression upon me as a ghost. It is living and ceasing to live which are imaginary solutions. Existence is elsewhere. - from the Manifesto of Surrealism (1924).

So, if your artwork, or poetry or whatever it is means something to you, if it symbolises something, if it doesn't come pouring out of the unconscious mind without rational or conscious intervention, then it's unlikely to be Surrealism! Create whatever you like but call it something else.


I sometimes think that Andre Breton would despair at some of the artwork produced today in the name of Surrealism. I know I do... Quite often. Maybe True Surrealism is dying or has already died and nobody bothered to tell us. I don't know, but I will keep on striving to produce something that would please the likes of Andre Breton.