File spoon-archives/surrealist.archive/surrealist_1997/97-01-28.224, message 114


From: antonsen-AT-alf.nbi.dk
Subject: Re: Artaud, Post-Modernism & Zapatistas  
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 96 12:55:04 +0100


A (very brief, too brief, sorry) reply to Carlos,

>About the matter how to move art in a dialectical direction it seems
>you are asking me for a concrete strategy on the matter when i simply could
>give is some thoughts about it.

Yes I know. But I asked you because you seemed to have been conscious of working 
in that direction, therefore I was hoping you had some concrete results. We 
probably do not need a new manifesto, but what we could use, I think, is a new 
approach. It is very easy for all of us to fall into the trap of just saying 
what has already been said. If we are to rejuvenate surrealism, we need to find 
our own voices, and in particular to find something new to say. A lot of what is 
done today is closely related on a formal level to the artists of the past. This 
is not necessarily bad, not at all. But I would very much like to see something 
related to the artists of old on a "spiritual" level. There is a lot there still 
needs to be understood, truely understood, about the artists of the past. In 
particular Magritte, Duchamp, Ernst, Miro, Paalen and Matta (and Mario Cesariny 
>from your own country, Asger Jorn and Wilhelm Freddie from mine). What was the 
"inner necessity" that drove them to paint as they did? One of the few living 
surrealists who continue that spirit seems to me to be Jan Svankmajer. 
Unfortunately, I haven't seen much of Mario's works, but I would expect him too 
to belong to this category. You have the added benefit of actually talking on a 
more or less regular basis with Mario Cesariny. This is anothe reason why I 
asked you (I intend to ask others later). I for one would be very much 
interested in hearing what you have to say, even if you are not a theorist 
(kidding), provided you say it clearly enough. This could be another point 
separating us from the post modernists.

Anyway, good luck with the translations.

Frank 


   

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