UNREAL

From the multitude of definitions, surrealism readily encapsulates the rejection of rationalism and the embrace of imagination, creating an intriguing baseline. UNREAL draws upon a variety of the machinations that evoke the multiplicities of the original 1920s cultural movement. However, the persistance of creative freedom has expanded the concept of surrealism beyond a singular artistic movement, instead realizing it as a persistent state of mind. One hundred years after its inception, the core principles of Surrealism continue to revolve around dreamlike narratives, symbolic iconography, distorted or abstract humor, illusionistic play of materials and mediums, and the stretching of rationality in pursuit of liberation. UNREAL takes a flexible, contemporaneous interpretation of these ideologies while keeping a wary eye on the complexities of current socio-political, conceptual, and philosophical concerns. The diverse approaches to reality presented in UNREAL foreground a synchronous mode of art-making characteristic of contemporary practices. The works explore themes of fantasy, mystery, history, family, spirituality, identity, and sexuality, situating them within frameworks that initially presume coherence and legibility. However, with varying degrees of opacity and inexplicability, these artworks can destabilize these assumptions, complicating the viewer's capacity to distinguish between the real and the constructed.