I only post this becuase I have found that a lot are posting under the genre "Surrealism". While I think many are confussed as to what it really is.

I think most of what I have seen here claiming surreal, would be better under Weird, or abstract. I did some reading on the www about surrealism recently. Since after seeing many images that didn't really look the way I always understood it to be. One site I found had this break down of what it is:

Familiar Objects That Have Been Oddly Changed Surrealist objects are painted in ways that look real but have been oddly changed.
In "The Red Model" by: RenMargritte there is a pair of boots that has been oddly changed into feet but still look like boots!
In Salvador Dali's painting "The Persistence of Memory" there are melting clocks and a clock with ants coming out of it. The clocks look real but they are melting and clocks usually are not melting. (from- http://library.thinkquest.org/J002045F/surrealism.htm)

I have just noticed a real lack of any kind of realism in many of the Surreal pics.. The realism needs to be there, or the genre would just be called Sur! LOL..( Just a thought and figured I would share. Thoughts? Comments?

I agree, there has to be the element of realism before you can even begin to make it surreal. Tossing objects in the air or upside down doesn't cut it, imo.

True... The difference between surreal and abstract is that surreal needs to have forms that are readily recognized as known objects (regardless of how they are manipulated or distorted. A "Dali elephant" still looks like an elephant, regardless of how weird and spindly it's legs have been distorted. Same is true with the melted pocketwatch, it's still obvious as to what it is no matter how unreal it's presented.) Abstract consists of any form which is not recognizable as anything. In that genre an artist just creates freeform shapes which may imply certain kinetic or atmospheric qualities. (Rather than being anything, those imply action and/or mood.) I suppose a lot of people confuse the two genres.

"A 20th-century literary and artistic movement that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter." So science fiction generally isn't surreal, since that's a product of the concious mind. But an image of my bank manager who has the head of a goat. That could be surrealism, but in this case isn't, since I thought of it with my conscious mind. Maybe if you dream something weird, it's surreal, but if you think something weird, that's just a good imagination.

*how many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb?
2- one to walk the Giraffe, and one to fill the bathtub with Jello

• let's see if there's still an html-friendly place on 'rosity..;)

I think surealism fits the bill as freudian wasn't on the list lol

LOL @ Pakled

What is Surrealism? Just about anything I've ever done. MC Escher was a master of surrealism as are many other artists. Most of the guys here are surrealists...they're just plain weird. (No offense) Why does it take 5 women with pmt to change a light bulb? COS IT DOES, OK?

...or..... Q: How many surealist painters does it take to change a lightbulb? A: The Fish.

"Most of the guys here are surrealists" This is where we part ways..LOL. That was the point of my thread, I think a lot here THINK they are producing surrealism, but sadly are not. Not in the literal definition of the artistic term.

Can you think of anything more surreal than living in a virtual world?

My wife is a collage artist and once did a picture of a buddha sitting on a fish. Normally she puts wings on all her figures and this time she hadn't. "Why hasn't the Buddha got wings?" I asked. "If he had wings," she replied, "He wouldn't need the fish." Now, that's surreal.

I think it's allready been summed up, but basically, they both make you close your eyes and develope a headache.

yeah i put my last two works under surrealism because i thought it to be the best section. i realize what surrealism is and so on, but i didn't really care. the word just sounded adequate for what i had in mind. drac

I may be using too broad a definition personally. I see surrealism as a distortion of reality. An example of the way I see this would be my work "Suicide". A man hangs from a rope, suspended above an overturned chair, a stereotypical victim of suicide. The surreal part is that he is holding the end of the rope (it is not attached to anything) above his head in his own hand thereby holding up his own weight, an impossibility in the real world.

Well the definition of surrealism is pretty self explainatory, just look at the name.. above realism, as in it's above and beyond what is realistic or realisty. It's just way out there. It's generally a tool to make people 'think' but there's plenty of mindless surrealism abound.. see my most recent image. Abstract is generally just shapes and colors.. and I don't really understand it but that's just my taste. The funny thing is, fractals are generally considered to be abstracts, while they are some of the most mathamatically strict 'renders' out there =), just goes to show you what a 'definition' will get you.

For many years I thought surreal meant "melted".

Surrealism is a style in which fantastic visual imagery from the subconscious mind is used with no intention of making the artwork logically comprehensible. Founded by Andre Breton in 1924, it was a primarily European movement which attracted many members of the chaotic Dada movement. It was similar in some respects to the late 19th-century Symbolist movement, but deeply influenced by the psychoanalytic work of Freud and Jung.

artcyclopedia

Some of my favorite surrealist artists are: Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst (under whos son I studied art history in college), Man Ray, Joan Miro, and, my personal favorite, Salvador Dali (the melting clock that Groingrinder took to).

A lot of images may belong to more than one category, or are too ambigous. I don't really like this genre selection anyway. It's like going to the video rental. I look for "Stand By Me" under Drama but I find it in the Horror section. Go figure. Now will I find "Superman" in SciFi, Action, Family, or Classics? Back to the main topic; I agree some people put their works in the way wrong categories. It could be because some folks in the community don't know English well enough. By the way, has anyone ever used the category "Careers"? How about "Step-by-step"? LOL

I think it's fair to say that most 3D artists are actually closer to "hyperrealists" than "surrealists", even when we do the most bizarre image. Doing a little minor research on the two turned up some interesting results: "Reffering to painting's history, one should not confuse 'surrealism' and 'hyperrealism'. Surrealism consists in taking PARTS of reality and gluing them together in a particular way. Rene Magritte is a surrealist. Hyperrealism consists in painting reality as it is more or less seen by a common camera. Most hyperrealist artists work by projecting slides onto a canvas and putting paint on the canvas. It's a highly technical exercise."

Zandar: Then it follows that those artists who use things like HDRI and global illumination are attempting to create the 'hyperreal'....? while the rest of us are Surrealists...

That's what I like about what I do. It goes into the aviation category every time. LOL