Immersed in Dalí

Following the huge impression of the immersive Gustav Klimt exhibition, the prospect of seeing Dalí in a similar manner was enticing. Though not displayed in such a vast space as the Klimt show at the Soho Art Center in Praga, the subject matter was even more suited to the immersive, 3D, animated and AI-enhanced experience. Watching fragments of surreal images morphing into one another on the walls, on the ceilings and floors is mind-blowing. Gigantic elephants on insectoid legs marching across weird landscapes, flaming giraffes, lobsters leaping out of the ocean. Dalí's imagination comes to life.

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) lived across such fascinating times. Born six months after the first man-powered flight, Dalí lived well into the atomic age and the computer age. Yet had he still been alive today, the technology would have taken his work further. The promise was there – a pixelated Raquel Welch programmed by Dalí back in 1965 on an IBM mainframe computer. He understood where computers would take art.

Although Dalí's art doesn't resonate with me emotionally, in the way that his fellow surrealist Giorgio de Chirico's unworldly dreamscapes do, it is instantly familiar and unsettling. As famous as Picasso or Warhol – the artist as celebrity.

However, this exhibition at the Art Box in Fabryka Norblina was absolutely first-rate in placing Dalí into context; the influence of surrealism on his art, and his influence on surrealism. His falling out with his surrealist friends as a result of taking the wrong side in the Spanish Civil War and his fascination with science and biology. 

A political reflection: below is a screenshot of Dalí's City of Drawers (1936) taken from Andrzej Wajda's Man of Marble (1976). In the film-within-a-film, Budują nasze szczęście ('They Build Our Happiness'), Wajda has his Stalinist propaganda narrator exclaiming: – Popatrzcie do jakiego stopnia zwyrodnienia doszły te dzieła artystów kapitalistycznego zachodu. Nie jest rzeczą przypadku, że postać człowieka zatraciła w ich rękach ludzki kształt, i ludzką treść. ("Look at the extent of degeneration to which these works of artists of the capitalist West have come. It is no accident that in their hands, the human figure has lost its human shape and human content".)

Now here's the thing. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) also liked to juxtapose his figures, did he not? And yet he was not denounced by the Stalinist machine as 'degenerate'; rather, Picasso was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize in 1950 and remained a member of the French Communist Party until his death – despite the brutal Soviet suppression of Budapest in 1956 and Prague in 1968. Dalí, however, sided with Franco after the Spanish Civil War, and for this, all his old surrealist friends turned their back on him. (I can understand them totally, shunning as I do former friends who supported Brexit or Corbyn.)

Dalí and his wife/muse/manager, Gala, found New York an ideal place to escape from European politics and to build the Dalí brand. Their commercial nous and a gift for self-publicity resulted in the carefully crafted celebrity that we all recognise.

Yet within the pompous bravado was a curious mind, fascinated by subatomic physics, DNA and psychoanalysis. As well as hobnobbing with the celebrity set, Dalí sought the company of people like Schrödinger and Heisenberg, Crick and Watson, and of course Sigmund Freud. 

All in all, I'd thoroughly recommend this show and indeed the entire concept of immersive, interactive art exhibitions. Highly didactic! So much better than simply staring at canvases.

This time three years ago:
Pavement comes to Jakubowizna

This time four years ago:

My local craft brewery

This time 14 years ago:
Time to change gear.

This time 15 years ago:

Spidery autumn

This time 16 years ago:
Early, cold start to autumn

Elliott Erwitt exhibition opens in Warsaw

An exhibition to see. Photographer Elliott Erwitt (85 years old, working with the legendary Magnum Photos agency since 1954) has personally selected 50 of his favourite images for display at Warsaw's Leica Gallery (ul. Mysia 3). Among the photos some of his trademark dog photos, some famous faces (Marilyn Monroe, Khrushchev and Nixon, Jackie Kennedy, Che Guevara), much humour; evocative landscapes and cityscapes from America and Europe from the late 1940s to modern times.

The exhibition's opening night drew an enormous and appreciative crowd of all ages (below), with a large showing of hipsters (some touting film cameras). If you missed it, this exhibition, Personal Best for Leica, is open to 11 March (Mon-Sat 10:00-23:00, Sun 12:00-18:00), admission free.

Below: a study in appreciation. Black and white photos in black frames with white mounts on white walls. Each photograph was absolutely flawless in its presentation - prints without any visible scratches, dust specks or blemishes. The darkroom work complements that of the photographer.

Below: Erwitt's Che Guevara comes across as a vain poseur, basking in the light of his self-image. No doubt Guevara was delighted by it.

A digression. Note the three people in the foreground; all are using mobile devices - to communicate or to photograph with. Today, we can all be Erwitts; two billion (at least) mobile phones with built-in cameras are in use around the world. What mobile-phone snappers lack in skill and lens quality, they make up for in ubiquity. Yesterday's meteorite over Chelyabinsk, for example, was caught on camera by thousands, as well as by CCTV and dashboard cameras (a very Russian phenomenon).

Below: my favourite image from the exhibition - steam train, Wyoming, 1954. Exactly my time, my place. Erwitt's photos of Wyoming and North Carolina were for me the stars of the show.

A word about Leica, host of the exhibition. My first proper camera was a Leica (an M2, before that I had a pre-war Leica IIIb). I used a Leica rangefinder as my principal camera from a quarter of a century (1982-2007). What a brand. What associations. Yet today - lost. The sense of a digital camera costing $7,000 (body only) that comes with lenses that neither autofocus nor have vibration reduction (for several thousand additional dollars) is lost on me. Only a purist, a show-off or obsessive could consider such a purchase - especially since each successive digital Leica rangefinder only shows to highlight the shortcomings of its predecessor. A Nikon D3200 does an admirable job for a twentieth of the price. (If you are a Leica fan thinking of leaving a rude comment here - do you want to buy one of my old Leicas? I have an M2, M3 and M6 I want to get rid of, with 21, 35 and two 50mm lenses...)

A final photo digression. It would be good to see vibration reduction/image stabilisation technology in use on fast (f2 and faster) prime lenses. Manufacturers have ignored this - it would give photographers a good reason to update their prime lens fleet.

This time last year:
The first heavy snow of winter

This time two year:
God's Dwelling Place - a short story

This time three years ago:
Beat this for a snowy winter!

This time four years ago:
Poland's most popular outergarments

This time five years ago:
The Frost Gods return