Salvador Dali

Surrealism is an artistic approach that has been around since the early 1920s, it is surrealist work that features the elements of surprise. One artist screams surrealism is Salvador Dali. Salvador Dali’s work is unusual but inspiring. Dali himself was born in Catalonia, Spain on May 11th, 1904 and passed away aged 84 on January 23rd, in 1989. With Dali’s iconic crazy moustache, he is also one of the most significant figures from the past who is a role model to other artists in today’s century. With a weird personality and astonishing gifts, he has achieved to become one of the top surrealism artists in a long time. 
Salvador Dali is versatile and became an artist with producing many pieces of work which not only included a painter, but he was a writer, illustrator, jewellery designer and many more. Dali was a visual artist, who was particular talented in artistic drawing and painting. Dali is one of the well known and inspiring artists for many years and has created many memorable pieces which are still recognized today. In the book (Dali’s mustache’, page 65-66) a photographic interviewer interviewed Dali himself and asked “what is surrealism?’ Dali replies and answers ‘surrealism is myseIf.”
Dali was influenced by two men who made a significant and creative impressions to his life were poets called Federico Garcia and a film maker called Luis Bunuel. And also artists such as Picasso, Miro and others inspired him massively. He was and still now is best known for his amazing surrealist and abstract work, with the success from his art, it has today been displayed in well known museums, including an exhibition close by to the London eye called ‘The Dali Universe’. In his name a building has been built in his home land, Spain, called ‘Dali’s museum’. With inspirational artwork, Salvador Dali has become an icon of artists of the modern society. In the Phaidon book (page 5) it quotes “The popularity of the work of Salvador Dali is immense; his image are recognized and provoke a response across the world. They continue to appeal to the new generations”.
 Dali was very imaginative, which helped him create delusional art. This is smart and beautiful. With memorable pieces till today’s society he has made some amazing paintings such as ‘Swans reflecting Elephants’ and ‘dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate a second before awakening’, but one in particular artwork that I really love is ‘Slave market with the disappearing Bust of Voltaire’ created in 1940, “With oil on canvas; 46.5 x 65.5 cm, 18 38 x 25 34 in”. This painting represents a slave market, whilst there’s a naked women sitting on a cubical who watches them. In this image you can see many things is going on, the form of bodies form a figured face on ‘Voltaire’ , Dali described the painting as followed "to make the abnormal look normal and the normal look abnormal." 

In this painting it shows a still image that flips back and forth between two differing.
On the left a women is leaning on top of a red velvet cover, watching the crowd that is front of her.  With the illusion, figures of the young girls wearing black and white clothing which appear to look like nuns become the face of Voltaire, this technique here that Dali used, reminds me of pop art, it appears to look like a logo within the painting of Voltaire’s face, to show Voltaire is in the painting but not with a bait form that is shown. The use of the wall that appears to be ruined into a rounded shape, this form a patch which turns into the head or possibly the hair of Voltaire. 
To the right of the painting there is an emptiness bowl of fruit, I like the smart way of the pear sitting flatly which becomes the shape of the hills in the far background. This shows that Dali uses objects’ to form a second image.
One direct quote from The Guardian quotes about this Salvador Dali painting is “When looking at the painting, our perception switches from one interpretation to the other. In a study published in 2002, Lizann Bonnar, then at the University of Glasgow, and her colleagues, investigated the stimuli which drive perception of the visual scene depicted in Dali's painting. Participants were presented with a cropped greyscale version of the painting, consisting solely of the area containing the nuns. A "bubble" filter was used to enhance or obscure certain features of that part of the painting. They found that the participants reported seeing the bust of Voltaire when the finer details of the painting were obscured, and reported seeing the nuns when large scale features were obscured.” This quote tells us that there’s two parts of our mind which shows two different images. So this technique of objects becoming two different still images that Salvador Dali uses is very smart. 

Salvador Dali has also made many more paintings which have illusions in them, the painting of the Swans reflecting Elephants “51 cm × 77 cm (20.08 in × 30.31 in” created in 1937.

 I really love this artwork, I love the way Dali uses opposites in this piece of work this can be connoted by delicate swan contrasted with the wild animals.  I love the use of expression of figures from the beautiful, graceful swans and trees can form the figure and details of the heavy elephants. The swan’s neck forms the trunk of the elephant and the trees form the figure of the legs of the elephant in the reflection in the still water. This works really well in my eyes because you wouldn’t expect it. If the still water wasn’t there I wouldn’t imagine that the swans could turn into something else. In this painting there is a figure of a man, it almost feels like Dali wanted to put himself in the painting as if he is there and it’s his imagination. In the background, I love the use of fierly fall colours it contrasts between complementary. I also love the use of brushwork creating swirls in the cliffs, to contrast with the cool stillness of the water. 

I also love this piece that Salvador Dali created which is called ‘Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach’ “114.8 cm × 143.8 cm (45.2 in × 56.6 in”, created in 1938. This painting shows a glass of wine; on top of it, it appears to be a fruit bowl in a dessert sort of form. With ghost like shadows on the glass appears to form a face, and with the texture of the sand gives texture and dept of a face.  There is an appearance of a dog behind which are formed by several non-related objects. I very much so like this piece that Dali has created. I love the use of imagination and creativity. I like how he used a shell and what seems to look as a figure to form eyes over the darker shades which creates shadows. Also to form a face shape the texture of the send just underneath the shell on the left of the wine glass the ghost like shadows form a cheek of the face. Above their glass is the fruit with colours which are soft that representing hair, this is smart because the use of soft colours and calm shades forms curls in the hair. From left to the right of the painting you can see a figure of a dog from a distance. On the right the use of the bridge becomes the dogs’ collar. The style of the darker brown to the light beige becomes the head of the dog, and within the darker brown shades, there is an open hole which becomes the dogs’ eye, but in the far distance view, there is a light blue sky and sand that becomes the dogs’ eyes features. To the left of the painting is the end part to the dog, which becomes the back and the tail, which is clearly shown by the use of direction Dali used with his brushes and the different tones of browns.  


There are many modern artists who are inspired by Salvador Dali with the aspect of surrealism. Modern artists such as George Grie, Laurie Lipton work in such surreal ways that used different technique to approach this. Technology such as Photoshop, screen printing are now introduced to artists in today’s century, unlike Salvador Dali, where he mainly focused on hand painting. In modern society surrealism is like a common feature that certain artists have, each single artist wants to be known as diverse, so they create unique artwork, but with influences from artists like Salvador Dali gives them a base line of inspiration.    
Because of artists like Salvador Dali it helps inspired people today to keep the early styles of art in history, without the history of people like Dali himself; we wouldn’t have specific art today. And knowing history is really important because you learn about the techniques the artists use, their culture and they way they preserve art.

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Dali’s mustache “what is surrealism?’ Dali replies and answers ‘surrealism is myseIf.” page 65-66 [accessed 26/11/12] 

Phaidon “The popularity of the work of Salvador Dali is immense; his image are recognized and provoke a response across the world. They continue to appeal to the new generations” Page 5 [accessed 26/11/12]

Wikipedia [Online] “With oil on canvas; 46.5 x 65.5 cm, 18 38 x 25 34 in” "to make the abnormal look normal and the normal look abnormal." 
Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Market_with_the_Disappearing_Bust_of_Voltaire  [27/11/12]

The Guardian [Online] “When looking at the painting, our perception switches from one interpretation to the other. In a study published in 2002, Lizann Bonnar, then at the University of Glasgow, and her colleagues, investigated the stimuli which drive perception of the visual scene depicted in Dali's painting. Participants were presented with a cropped greyscale version of the painting, consisting solely of the area containing the nuns. A "bubble" filter was used to enhance or obscure certain features of that part of the painting. They found that the participants reported seeing the bust of Voltaire when the finer details of the painting were obscured, and reported seeing the nuns when large scale features were obscured.” 
Available at: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/neurophilosophy/2011/sep/19/ghostly-gaze-illusion
[27/11/12]

Wikipedia [Online] “51 cm × 77 cm (20.08 in × 30.31 in” 
Available at: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swans_Reflecting_Elephants
[28/11/12]

Wikipedia [online] “114.8 cm × 143.8 cm (45.2 in × 56.6 in” 
Available at: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparition_of_Face_and_Fruit_Dish_on_a_Beach
[1/12/12]

Research Objects

Tyga - 420 x 297 mm

Paul Reilly is a contemporary illustrator who is renowned for his beautiful fashion illustrations which have an urban touch. Reilly has really influenced me; he is the key to success of how I examine my work in the materials I use. Before noticing Paul Reilly, I was really unsure of what my talent was. But one assignment was assigned and we had to be inspired by Reilly so I challenged myself to produce work similar to his. Inspired by Reilly’s work, I was intrigued by the way he produced his portrait illustrations, and inspired by the use of lines he used. Also he uses a technique of stimulating the brush to create an elegant glow to his work, which I did for my own piece. With his work he exaggerated the portraits with colour, which gave it a more bold effect. He also adds areas of colour to the face to get a surreal feel to them; in my own interpretation of his work, I did this affect but instead I added a slight glow around the image so it blends better to make the image appear more realistic.

Marcus - 420 x 297 mm

Max Gregor started out doing illustrations for the urban underground art and music scene. He is working towards a graphic realism, juxtaposed by texture influenced by graffiti lines and pattern. Gregors work really helped me capture detail in portraits.

The above image on the left is a piece of work Gregor did and on the right is a inspired piece I done, inspired by Gregor, I really want to capture tones to the face to make it 3D so it didn't look just like a flat image. Max Gregor helped inspire my work by the thickness of line that he used; around the face of my attempt of work there is a thick line. Using the use of colour Gregor did, I tried to keep the grey jacket a sort of bold colour, but around the image I tried to add shading which is also inspired by Gregor. 

 

LaiYin - 297 x 210 mm

Sean Kernick was born in Detroit 1977 and grew up in Philly. His style is a hybrid of heavy graffiti influences and traditional characters. Art and drawing were his main interests. Kernick inspired me to transform a person into a character which I attempted for myself. 

The above image on the left is one of kernicks pieces, and on the right is my interpretation of his work. The process began with a photograph of me in a similar positioning as Kernick's in regards to the medium shot of the body, as well as a section of the body part coming towards the camera. Influenced by his cartoon theme, i also converted my image into a cartoon using colour similar to his which are quite bold and bright and animated features. What really inspired me about Kernicks work is the immature look to the eyes that he features on his illustration. From a young age I enjoyed drawing my own characters which included eyes which were animated and exaggerated so discovering Kernick's similar trend excited and interested me to explore his work further.

Beautiful Insecurity - 297 x 210 mm

The above image is a 'Brand' design I produced recently on Adobe Photoshop which was a result of a project assigned to me in university. To enable me to produce this piece I was initially partnered with Yvonne. The project idea was to come up with a brand that sums up a person and their interests. The first stage included me sketching some ideas of designs, before making a final decision. Upon inspection, I discovered that Yvonne is a quiet and insecure individual. To reflect this, I used body language in the form of her hidden face and confined body pose to portray her insecurity. Also, I positioned the image into a box to illustrate her stuck situation in society because of her insecurity which restricts her. Furthermore, I added wings to represent her angelic nature, because she is a very quiet, yet polite and friendly character. Yvonne also loves art and her favourite colour is pink, so I added these themes into the wings. Overall, I am pleased with the final design I created. I was able to capture the majority of her interests whilst still keeping it simple which is a trend in brand designs. Also, I didn't include text because I wanted the image to be the main focal point. If it wasn't for meeting someone like Yvonne I personally wouldn't have understood what sort of person she was, until I actually spoke to her. She was my inspiration for this piece of work I design and created.

Here are 3 screen grabs of videos I took from YouTube; top left image is of the original video of the Cadbury advert which was released in 2009 to promote their dairy milk chocolate bar. top right is a parody of the original version which Lily Allen and Alan Carr produced as a remake of the Cadbury Eyebrows which was aired on the ' The Sunday Night Project' on channel 4. Lastly, the bottom screen shot is a remake of my own Cadbury advert, inspired by the original and parody version. It inspired me to also make a funny version of the advert but put a twist of adding an Asian feel to it at the end. I also was inspired by the way they switched around the roles as Alan as the girl and Lily as the guy. Overall this encouraged me to come out my comfort zone and I uploaded the video onto YouTube My intention was to use my creative and humorous characteristics to produce a video that I, as well as others may deem funny.

Overall, this was a success because the video received over 3,000 views, which helped encourage me to make more YouTube videos so that I could entertain people who liked to watch my remake of the Cadbury advert.

Here is a link to my version of the Cadbury advert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G1VOXDGS88

Artist Statement

As an inspirational artist, my journey has developed from a young age. Since the beginning, I was exposed to art as a compulsory course in secondary school. I soon discovered my instant interest in fine art and often practiced at home where I kept a sketch book with all my creative ideas. I would often draw objects that I would find around my house, or I would draw family and friend's portraits. Art has helped me discover shading for in depth detail, as well as practice with scale for accurate proportioning. The techniques I have developed from art have helped contribute to my graphics work with designing fonts; we need to get the thickness right, especially if you’re enlarging a scale onto bigger paper. Also, shading in graphics is vital to make an image more realistic and dimensional.

 My past experiences in education have allowed my creative interest to prosper and develop. The combination of courses I have experienced has enabled me to combine my skills in illustration, photography and use of Adobe Photoshop to produce art in all mediums of digital and fine art. When selecting what course I wanted to take at degree level, I knew I wanted to enrol in a course that combines all my interests. Graphics was an obvious choice for me.

 

Okiema 420 x 297 mm

I often researched artists in my own time and have discovered a lot of artists who I have distinct interests in such as Max Gregor and Paul Reilly. Paul Reilly is an artist who has helped me immensely with my Photoshop skills. For my first assignment in college I was directed to explore the work of Reilly and how he portrays his illustrations. Influenced by his work, I was inspired to define and produce curved lines using pen tool in adobe Photoshop. I also discovered his urban inspired themes throughout his work, so I directed my model in the above image to portray an inappropriate gesture related to urban trends in posing.

 

J-Horror Magazine - 420 x 297 mm

In college I produced a magazine front cover. This was awarded best magazine of the year. This award gave me the confidence to believe in myself, to believe that I was good at Designing.

Dove - 297 x 210 mm This typography piece is a collage of wording such as ‘love’ to form a figure of a dove. I used different sizes of typeface and produced a smaller typeface to form a line to give an outline of the doves head, and larger ones to form the wings.

 

Rainbow - 297 x 210 mm

This was my first ever piece where I combined tracing and Photoshop together. I traced an image of my friend and photocopied it, using the piece as a montage I started to create shapes and numbering around. I was inspired by Paul Reilly collages.

 

Rhianna - 420 x 297 mm

Here is an illustration I did of 'Rhianna'. I used Photoshop using the tool 'Pen tool' to define the shape of the face, to get the smooth lines I stimulated the brush to avoid bold lines. In the face I used thinner lines to get an elegant feel and I also used different tones of shades, and blended them to give a realistic look.