Moder Sureealism in Photography?

Eirebear

Hi folks, i'm putting together some ideas for uni projects and got slightly off topic on my wanderings tonight.
Do any of you know of any current, or at least post 70's, photographers who could be listed alongside the likes of Dora Maar, Dali, Belmer et al in terms of surrealism?

I tend to struggle with the genre's and pigeon holes of art (as i do with film, music etc) so can get a bit lost as the classifications diversify.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

EyeBlinks

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking.

If the question is are there photographic artists operating in the "surrealist" mode since 1970 .... well yes gaggles of them, far to many to mention. Thomas Demand for instance

If the question is are photographic artists copying those you've mentioned and others, of course, such is the way of the world!

Eirebear

EyeBlinks wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking.

If the question is are there photographic artists operating in the "surrealist" mode since 1970 .... well yes gaggles of them, far to many to mention. Thomas Demand for instance

If the question is are photographic artists copying those you've mentioned and others, of course, such is the way of the world!

Sorry, i was rambling a bit - yeah, i was asking about photographers operating in the surrealist mode - ta.

EyeBlinks

have you seen Rene Riedler's stuff, especially the fake holidays ...http://www.r-riedler.com/work_fake_holidays.html

Or our own Sean Hillen's, Irlantis ... maybe ... http://www.irelantis.com/

melekalikimaka

bit of a tough topic to find artists for... I think art has moved on from it a wee bit, some post modern stuff has some in it... but it all boils down to how you define it...Patrick Rochon, I find his stuff surreal... but not in a 'carrying a message' sort of way

Eirebear

melekalikimaka wrote: »

bit of a tough topic to find artists for... I think art has moved on from it a wee bit, some post modern stuff has some in it... but it all boils down to how you define it...Patrick Rochon, I find his stuff surreal... but not in a 'carrying a message' sort of way

Yeah i tend to agree that a lot of the aspects that made surrealism what it was are no longer viable, especially in terms of attitudes towards women and sex in general - however i do think that some of the more base aspects still have a certain appeal with regards to it being an artists "job" or moral responsibility to explore the further reaches of his or her imagination and trying not to be constricted by the norms of society and expectations of realism.
Especially in a world where although we have more access to everything the world has to offer, for many people that doesnt involve travelling further than their computer desk.

I quite enjoyed these guys on my wanderings through the internet the other night, an a visual level at least - i've not really attempted to try and decipher them as i feel it's usually futile to try to do so from a monitor.
http://www.parkeharrison.com/index.html

melekalikimaka

Eirebear wrote: »

however i do think that some of the more base aspects still have a certain appeal with regards to it being an artists "job" or moral responsibility to explore the further reaches of his or her imagination and trying not to be constricted by the norms of society and expectations of realism.

does that make it surreal, i'm not saying it doesn't suppose at the end of the day its art talk, as long as you can justify the statement its all gravy... I just dont know if you could call that surrealism, them compare it to surrealism of the past and draw a comparision.

Eirebear

melekalikimaka wrote: »

does that make it surreal, i'm not saying it doesn't suppose at the end of the day its art talk, as long as you can justify the statement its all gravy... I just dont know if you could call that surrealism, them compare it to surrealism of the past and draw a comparision.

That alone doesnt make it surreal, of course it doesnt - that would be like accusing all other genres of not having any imagination. From a quick reading of Andre Breton's "manifesto" though it certainly seems that his personal view on surrealism had that at it's roots though - a sort of backlash against real or rational thinking and expectations. Given the timing of it, less than a decade after WWI it's certainly an understandable viewpoint.

Of course, a lot of it is art bollox - but nonetheless it's of interest to myself at the moment .

I'm not entirely sure of your point though, i was asking because i don't know whats out there currently - i had found some stuff that interested me and it kind of sidetracked me from what i was doing at the time, so thought i'd ask around to see what else i might be missing.

melekalikimaka

Eirebear wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure of your point though, i was asking because i don't know whats out there currently - i had found some stuff that interested me and it kind of sidetracked me from what i was doing at the time, so thought i'd ask around to see what else i might be missing.

I didnt really have a point i was just saying like most of art in the 'fine' catagory IMO is all very vague in putting it into a style, especially anything that touched dada. I do like his work... tho... I'd like to see some happy surreal for once

melekalikimaka

Like personally I'd consider David La Chappelle, a surrealist of sorts, but I imagine that would be a contested statement