Neo Surrealism:
An expansion of Surrealism to Holistic Automatism with New Age Thought.

In order to fully understand the following mission statement for The Neo Surrealist Trek, it might help to read my previous artist statement. However, you may be short on time, so allow me to introduce the “Goldfish Artist Statement:”

Neo revival imagination dreams the universal unconscious this realm
getting out of the way remove myself from the equation subconscious
it’s a certain state a conduit channeling Artsource resource
elephant like shapes happy accident these ideas turn the
incomplete look complete exactitude ultimate truths natural
characteristics raw spirit of life.

 

The Neo Surrealist Trek

I will throw myself at life.
Because I know all paths lead to the same conclusion.
The fulfillment of what I was meant to do.
Even if I didn’t exactly know what that would be (I have an Idea).
My skills, goals and actions will be sharpened and shaped like the giraffes neck to the branch. I will do what the universe needs me to do.

The Neo Surrealist Trek

Well, more of an odyssey than a trek, if we want to be exact about it. We are writing. I’ve completed my degree at Salisbury University graduating with a B.F.A. in Drawing and exhibited a senior art show heavily concerning automatism. Travel. I want to travel, but I want to go on a trip where the duration is not set and the destinations are not set. Freedom. Taking every day at a time, “the plan” to not have a plan   …the best plan, I may add, is my first official post college art project.

The Neo Surrealist Trek 

An “Artistic Odyssey” bringing art, and many forms of it, wherever I roam. Encompassing all of the automatist qualities of my drawings, but adapted to a long-term performance art piece. Meaning, I’m going about this trip the same way I would go about a drawing.

When I go about a drawing, I cannot attack it head on, I must attack it at an angle.
If I start a project based on a method, I’m not defining what it’s going to be.
All I have are instinctual cues to use to chase this magical thing around~
During, I may be able to pick up on a direction, but it’s not until the end that I have the option to make a description about it, which would mainly be on the method/angle, and occasionally highlighting certain aspects that were unforeseen, yet influential to the end product of the drawing …or trek!

 

 

 

Are Useless.

 

They should not be determined before the trip.
They should not be determined before the drawing.

You can have a general direction/focus, but what are some better questions?

How are you preparing?
What do you have in your toolbox?
What’s your angle?

The Neo Surrealist Trek

Imagine you’re painting something and get distracted elaborating on one particular section. Riffing off of a little ‘vision’ you saw, that maybe isn’t really there …just yet. You’re imagining it. Sure it may not be good for the overall unity and balance of the piece, but regardless there is something in this little developed area that has a life of its own. Because you weren’t trying to mold it, it molded itself. Neo Surrealism is setting up a painting, with one method or another, so that the entire piece can unravel, molding itself together, enhancing spontaneity while adhering to compositional issues.

To take a trip in this sense is to jump at opportunities when they come. It is to turn errors and difficulties into progress and direction. It is to connect and add to the infinite evidence of the interconnected oneness of the universe. What else? I will cut out drugs and alcohol to completely focus my trip in regard to both TIME & MONEY giving me a great deal more of:

Regular ole dollar bills as well as our very own life-currency time nuggets!

Woah… Got a little off track there.
(Wait, I think that was the point…)

Having a completely party-free lifestyle will simplify expenses as well as orient my trip in a positive and productive manner. Trading in…

coffee Tea
smoking Yoga and Meditation
drinking Philosophical Discussion
partying Hustlin

I believe you can achieve anything you set your mind to. And yet my trip is so undetermined. I am allowing the world around me to have complete influence over me and, still, it is the freest endeavor I can imagine. To not have a set plan is freedom. Doing whatever you want, day to day. Because when you get right down to it, most of our plans (whatever we’re doing in life) aren’t even our plans. It’s the way that you see yourself fitting into society. But I’m here to see how society can fit around me.

Around my dreams and aspirations…
I will build my own life and take responsibility for who I become.

The Neo Surrealist Trek

A performance art that is:

-Interactive (with the world in a very real sense).
-All-encompassing (whether documented or not).
-And pretty long term (as far as I can tell right now).

Wait you have to document it…

Of course, documentation, in a way, is the product of this art piece. What I meant was whether you document it or not, it‘s every minute, all-encompassing. The audience of my work (i.e. followers of a travel blog) have a very real chance to interact with the art project itself. Especially the longer it goes.

Being in the ‘Age of Information,’ a travel blog is an important apparatus so that JHA can connect with a larger community, but it’s not the only form of documentation. Other products of this project include:

-The paintings/drawings I make.
-The connections/people I collaborate with.
-The projects I help with… the career I develop… the effect I have on the world.

The world is my oyster and my pearl is:

{NEO SURREALISM}

THIS IS THE NEO SURREALIST MANIFESTO
Neo Surrealism – An expansion of Surrealism to Holistic Automatism with New Age Thought.

A good contemporary artist understands his place within art history but also looks to progress it forward. If surrealism is a fragmentation of imagination/dreams/the universal unconscious then Neo Surrealism pieces together what’s being fragmented in order to pinpoint the nature of this realm. Most surrealism is visually stimulating, but the subject matter is so random; or seems random. Not until you learn about the personal experiences and behavior of the artist, does the subject matter become more intentional, ideal and fixed. One must understand Frida Kahlo’s back problems to understand her paintings. To me, the most ideal surrealism is artwork that can transcend the artist’s personal story and become statements of universal truths. Therefore, my process incorporates getting out of the way and having no personal filter in which the “unconscious” images are channeled through – I remove myself from the equation (completely) in order to create surreal artwork that needs no background explanation – that way it’s more timeless! Surrealism is “snapshots into the subconscious.” Instead of random flashes of the dream world, Neo Surrealism takes the most well timed snapshots to highlight it’s raw spirit. Using automatist techniques among others allow me to arrive at a product in which my own intention is at a minimum. My only intention is to have no intention, in order to channel raw, organic flow. Creative projection. I project an imaginary line on the paper, trace it and create a window into another realm where you can see this pure creative flow of lines and form. When I reach a certain state and entirely remove my intention, I feel as though I’ve become a conduit channeling this organic “live feed” and the drawing draws itself. It’s not my work. The intention to have no intention? How do you harvest from this Artsource while keeping the resource untouched? Method. I incorporate both technical methods like layering of automatist textures and conceptual methods like lightly guiding the subject matter of my thoughts, which in turn works its way (subconsciously) into the subject matter of my art (i.e. instead of drawing an elephant, I think about elephants while mindlessly drawing abstract lines). Eventually, unintended, but accurately proportioned elephant-like shapes get weaved into the patterns of my (mostly) black and white line drawings. Then I lightly develop each “happy accident” to render more like an elephant while maintaining the fluidity and balance of the composition, careful not to force the end product in any particular direction. It ends up random and detailed like the universe itself. These ideas turn the “incomplete look” complete. A single piece might not have a clear individual statement, except that it’s randomness is meant to be, confirmed by it’s sense of exactitude. Imagine that subconscious flow and dreams have meaning behind them, holding ultimate truths to be unlocked. Using the right process within the right setting, it is possible to observe the natural characteristics of the universal unconscious because when an artist suspends intention, she or he can channel the raw spirit of life.

Surrealism, n. Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to
express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the
real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of
all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral
preoccupation.

Via Automatism, we shall start collecting the raw data of the creative atmosphere to infinity and beyond. An idea. An event. A movement. A maturing. A manifestation. A definition. B cuz the true essence of an artwork is most present, most alive, when it picks you! B cuz I prove my value, not by how much I consume, but by how much I create, and how deep and pure I can create. B cuz we must strive not only to create pretty art, not only to create original art, but to build upon art of the past and choose the most logical progression forward. B cuz it was meant to be. It was sent to me, via creative spree, I channeled gently. Can ya sense the C? Can you see what this could be? Can you see what this could do? Can you see how this would help, and what it would prove? The issues of the world are real. But science is just one field. The money doesn’t flow like that. And the solution is far too abstract. We need pioneers, adventurers, the lot! To go forth into the world with the talent, they’ve got. Let your path choose itself, I’m not bringing god into this… But trust in the creative realm and in holy coincidence. If you feel you have a gift, then cultivate it, please! Because it could be a piece of the grand puzzle for peace.

A trip becomes a Trek.
The idea Manifests.
Whats next? A club to cultivate the rest…

Now introducing…
.               The Neo Surrealist Association

Welcoming the worldwide artist community to affiliate with and collaborate with your
destiny. This is New Age. This is New Thought. This is New Art.

Contact at JacobHurleyArt.com

October 27, 2014 at 6:12 PM

Jacob Carl Hurley