Had an amazing and happy day yesterday. I met my long ago friend Barry and went to The Colour Of My Dreams - Surrealism Revolution at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Both experiences well worth my time.
All the artists were there and thankfully not an overload of the over exposed Dali. The works were interspersed with incredible North West aboriginal art that a number of the Surrealists collected and were inspired by.
I am a Joseph Cornell fiend and a few of his works were there. This included a blue lens film he made that could have climbed out of one of his boxes.
There was so much that I felt completely overwhelmed. Tanguy, Ernst,Miro, Man Ray. A number of the manifests. The lovely and haunting work of Lenora Carrington who just died recently. Lots of Exquisite Corpse collaborations between the artists.
A small section of the show was plastered with a parental and sensitive person warning. It contained some of the more erotic work and it was my favourite part of the show. I felt it had been more carefully and senstively chosen. The tiny works were beautiful and a number of the sculptures were so much more beautiful and erotic than the images I have seen of them.
I loved the mix of artists and all the different mediums. Film, photography, sculpture , drawing and painting.
The other show in the gallery was a number of Ken Lum works. More POP than Surrealist. Clever. But his work collided with my energy after being overwhelmed by the main exhibition.
Two of his works stood out for me. My name is Fung and a large, heart clenching image of an exotic dancer. I am a huge fan of Ken Lum's EASTVAN cross. I live with it daily as it is two blocks from my house.
Barry was the perfect person to see this with. So comfortable and non-intrusive with observations nicely punctuated by his amazing laugh. We were thrown out at the end of the show because time was not adequate. Two days wouldn't be adequate.
We got to play with some interesting ideas of our own. And had a little time to talk and listen.
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