INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION 2010 SURREALISM NOW

Bissaya Barreto Foundation

INTRODUCTION

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We are at a crossroads. At the time of this introduction, humanity is in dire need for the desire of surrealist revolution, that is, the revolution of the mind. The men and women of today, around the world, are all caught up in the dynamics of globalization, new-order imperialism, climate change (and the ongoing wars and occupations in the Middle East), illustrates that the reigns of logic, rationalism and the justification of the mechanisms of the past, need to be fought against at all costs, and the need to win is without question. Surrealism is that weapon, or shall I say, that ‘weapon of desire’ to liberate humanity from the clutches of empire, establishment, and the formula of capitalism, etc. It is not a matter of aesthetic or sensory pleasure that is going to be on exhibit here, what you, the visitor will see is the ongoing achievements (and possibilities) of the surrealist explorations that have been in effect since surrealism’s conception from the last century under the direction of our founder Andre Breton.

Surrealism DOES continue, in fact, at this epoch in human history, in the beginning of the 21st century, the dawn of the Internet Age, our movement has grown exponentially alongside our friends and comrades in other movements, that is, primarily the other art movements known as Visionary Art, Fantastic Realism, Dark Art, etc. Thanks to our very dear friend and surrealist comrade, Santiago Ribeiro, we now have a platform of united exhibition for our art and the need to continue Surrealism way ahead into the future. Surrealists, Artists, and Visionaries, etc from the website SURREALISM NOW! and from THE BEINART SURREAL ART COLLECTIVE and THE SOCIETY FOR ART OF IMAGINATION in the UK (founded by the great Brigid Marlin) are all here in this show. You are going to walk away from this exhibition knowing the principle motivating factor, and that is the urge of the human explorer to destroy the laws of arbitrary utility and to abandon the strict reigns of external commodity fetishism and to make distinct and very clear that mind, and mind only, is capable of TRUTH!!!

From the past days of the German Romantics, to the centuries past of Heraclitus and straight on up to our present day, the imagination does remain reactive, yet still regulated to either the examination of psychoanalysis or drawn to mysticism and myth, where even though it still possesses it’s magical glow, it remains mostly ignored, or shall I say subordinated to logic and rationalism. This was where Freud came in, and still to this very day, his brilliant analysis does hold its weight, but after much revelation and discovery of the mind’s ability to process the realistic and materialist attitudes and environments, the obvious is still far from our grasp, and that is the advancement of the imagination and its use value as the highest common denominator, the ability to achieve the means to an end via the imagination and go way beyond the parameters of readymade human life, do you understand?

It must be stressed that there has to be a great amount of FOCUS here, in regards to this exhibition and what is being presented. Its really not at all fitting and proper to categorize these masterpieces of art into the various clusters of aesthetic containment or to survey the diversity of art form and technique, for that would be very misleading indeed. You see, there exists a radiant power that does exist from within that is being exhibited and examined here, and the greatest of all forms of expression is true thought in search of itself, and the surrealists and artists on exhibit here are doing just that, its not fleeting, it can possess you just as much as it had possessed them, to justify the domain of their imagination and their creations produced as an act of pure desire. This art is greatly focused and not subjected to sentinels of common sense and what is also most aesthetically expedient in terms of commodity, etc. The art on exhibit here is the poetry of the marvelous that cannot be ignored any more!!! It is not by pure chance and the fleeting gesture of online social networking that brought us all together here either, it’s the passion to go forward with all of our ability to the highest degree and potential of what the human imagination can offer, is that so much to ask???

Keith Wigdor
April 20, 2010

Pictures from the Opening
(there are many more on the following pages)




Sponsors

The International Portugese Bank CAIXA GERAL DE DEPOSITOS is now sponsoring this Exhibition!
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This page announced the sponsorship, and was deleted after the show ended.
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Tour of foreign Dignitaries

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Delegation of Angola and Cape Verde and other participants of the International Seminar of Registries and Notaries visiting the Expo. Guided tour to the exhibition.
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