What a time to be alive. Really, what a surreal time to be alive. History is repeating, and yet in some ways, we are expanding. I am the guest judge this year of Surreal Salon 17 at Baton Rouge Gallery, and here is what I have to say after the initial stages of judging, and now that the show is up.
It was hard not to look at the overall key ingredients in all the works that I saw in the jurying process. I'm talking about dreams. Not dreams in a connection to ambition or a better life, but escape. I couldn't help but see this thread throughout the show, this idea of wanting to be somewhere and anywhere else. I know, I know, it's surrealism, it can be illogical, it can be a representation of the unconscious, a dreaming mind making art, but I wanted to capture what I felt was an international mood of escapism, of movement, of unchartered territories depicting tech and analog methods as they converse, cohabitat and become essential to our very normal day existence. The artists lead the way, and this is very much the defining feature of my jurying the Surreal Salon. —Evan Pricco
For events and tickets to the talk at LSU on Monday, January 27, click here.