The Blanton Museum of Art is serving up a heaping dose of the subversive and unreal with its latest exhibit, "Long Live Surrealism! 1924–Today." Painstakingly bridging the gulf between time-honored Surrealist icons and Austin's modern art vanguard, the exhibit throws its doors open to the strange and uncanny until January 12, as per Tribeza. Think Hans Bellmer and Max Ernst rubbing shoulders with locals VLM and Connor O'Leary, with a dash of Yayoi Kusama and Dorothy Hood for good measure.
With a claim to fame as more than just a fly-by-night artistic craze, Surrealism's roots are firmly planted in the early 20th century, flourishing into a movement that—as the Blanton Museum's curator Claire Howard puts it—"continues today" and is reflected in the works created in "just within the last few years." Peculiar and playful, the exhibit chases the movement's propensity for dream-inspired creations and chance happenings. Delving into its rich influence, Howard, says in a statement retrieved by CBS Austin, "Surrealism continues today, and we see its impact in art made just within the last few years."
The retrospective isn't just a stroll down the memory lane of Surrealism—it also debuts 20 new additions to Blanton's collection, marking their first public display since 2020. Visitors are greeted by pink walls, a historical nod featuring in Tribeza's coverage, to the colorfully unconventional decor of Paris’ 1959 Surrealism exhibition. The witness of works spanning mediums and time, the exhibition charges guests to confront and question reality through an artistic lens.
According to Tribeza, Howard expresses a particular fondness for the theme of The Body: "The instability of things in dreams gives us this kind of surrealism, like bodies that are always in states of change, turning from one thing into another."
The celebration of this high-impact movement doesn’t end at daylight contemplation. The Blanton is also hosting a spectrum of events catered to those enchanted by the fantastical, like the Surrealism Soirée on October 25 where costumes meet live music and dialogue on art. With offerings including guided exhibition tours on free admission Tuesdays and Sundays, there's ample opportunity to duck out of the mundane and into the enigmatic swirl of Surrealism. The Museum welcomes all until January 12, as described on Tribeza, where Howard leaves us with the idea that recognizing this alternate reality of dreams begs a tantalizing question of what possibilities unfold "once you know that there is another reality."
