A big goal for this project has been to make a series of short films to show in my installation. This blog page will be focusing on my first film and the steps to get there. The first introduction I ever had to surrealism was in my year 9 art class where my teacher was off sick and our substitute teacher handed out various books on surrealism and we had to choose one, paint it, and explain why we chose this certain one. I was flicking through the books and was drawn to Magritte’s The Son of Man. When it was my turn to give my presentation, I explained that I chose this specific image as it had a sense of familiarity to it. I explained that even though I had never seen this specific image it brought a sense of nostalgia, maybe because every morning I would look forward to see which suit my dad would choose to wear that morning? I’m not sure. Anyway, that evening I went home and as usual we gathered for dinner and took turns speaking of our days. I explained my very eventful art lesson but for the life of me couldn’t recall the name of the painting that inspired me. So after about 5 minutes, I gave up trying to remember the title and frustratingly said “you know, the Apple man”. I was relieved they knew of the exact painting.
So long story short, this film is an homage to my first introduction to the world of surrealism that has for some reason been engrained in me.
I have an image in my head of a man in a suit sitting on a chair in a field with an old phone placed on a stall next to him – his face is obscured with a Polaroid of a lobster – making a direct link to Dalí’s Man Finds Lobster in place of phone. I feel like I can picture this happening in a field as it resembles the peculiarity dreams can have. I would love for the subject to be my dad, as the nostalgic familiarity of the painting was a memory of him coming down every morning in a different suit.
The inspiration for the Polaroid came from research I have done on Guy Bourdin. He was a fashion photographer and before he took photographs, he would take Polaroids to ensure that he liked the shots. At times he would even include them within the shots if he liked them. I love the idea of including various mediums within a photograph to make it busier and more intriguing.
Planning equipment
The way I see this going forward is by gathering the equipment needed. As I have shown above, I would need 2 tripods – 1 for the camera so that the filming is steady, and 1 for positioning the Polaroid perfectly obstructing the subjects face and perfectly in frame.
Bringing this idea to life
First thing’s first. I had to produce an image of the lobster as it it one of the key focuses to the outcome of this film. I chose to replicate as closely as I could the lobster from Dalí’s Man finds lobster in place of phone. I painted this piece in oils as I feel that it gives a smoother and more vibrant finish in comparison to acrylics.
My surreal world 