Jonathan Cohen's photos with the keyword: surrealism

David Normal is a San Francisco painter and animator. Born in 1970, he is the son of Paul Butterfield Blues Band keyboardist, Mark Naftalin. Normal’s "Crossroads of Curiosity" is a suite of murals that extends the notion of a "cabinet of curiosity." The traditional cabinet of curiosity is a rectilinear arrangement of objects displayed in glass cases. Normal’s version seeks to encompass the world in a series of dramatic tableaux featuring provocative juxtapositions of vastly different times, places, and peoples. Normal used Victorian Era book illustrations exclusively from the digitized collection of the British Library to create the artwork. Beginning as black and white collages, the four pieces were developed into 8’ x 20’ lightbox murals that were arrayed around a common base. "Curioscillotropy" is a portmanteau neologism meaning: "To follow the oscillations of thought." It is derived from the words "Curious," and "Oscillate, combined with the suffix "Tropy." Of all the four Crossroads paintings, Curioscillotropy, is the one that refers most clearly to the theme of "Caravansary." The painting is a Rube Goldberg-like machine that plays with history. It shows the Mongols being expelled from China, the galleon trade ships opening a passage to the East, the Crusades as the foundation of European cultural imperialism, and Maoris’ apocalyptically erupting forth to reap an atavistic revenge. If you look closely, you can also see: - Patagonian Dancers (androgynous figures posed with blank books. There is an old tradition of soothsayers being androgynous. For example; the oracle of Apollo, "Tiresias", who spent seven years as a woman. Michelangelo depicts the "Sybille de Cummes" with pronouncedly masculine physique. Tehuelche Indians of Patagonia were recounted as giants by European explorers, perhaps giving this illustrator license to depict the woman with such masculine arms. Whatever the case, she slipped readily into her new role as prophetess astride an ichthyosuarus.); - an Armillary Sphere; - the Pharos of Alexandria (one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, for centuries one of the tallest man-made structures); - a Chinese Dragon (emerging implausibly from the arched gate of a Mosque, and processing across the Royal Square of Ispahan to cross a railway bridge across the Firth of Tay, Scotland, the bridge that collapsed tragically in 1879); - a Mongol Rider; - a Mummy; and - the Koh-i-noor

David Normal is a San Francisco painter and animator. Born in 1970, he is the son of Paul Butterfield Blues Band keyboardist, Mark Naftalin. Normal’s "Crossroads of Curiosity" is a suite of murals that extends the notion of a "cabinet of curiosity." The traditional cabinet of curiosity is a rectilinear arrangement of objects displayed in glass cases. Normal’s version seeks to encompass the world in a series of dramatic tableaux featuring provocative juxtapositions of vastly different times, places, and peoples. Normal used Victorian Era book illustrations exclusively from the digitized collection of the British Library to create the artwork. Beginning as black and white collages, the four pieces were developed into 8’ x 20’ lightbox murals that were arrayed around a common base. "Conflamingulation" is a portmanteau neologism meaning: "Somewhere between Conflagration and Confabulation lies Conflamingulation." It is derived from the words; "Confabulate," "Copulate," and "Flamingo." Conflamingulation depicts the sublimation of aggression into absurdity. The violent impulse is transformed into a harmless charade in a cavern intermediate between the Biblical (Elijah’s Cave of the School of the Prophets in Jerusalem), and the Classical (the Tepidarium of the Forum Bath of Pompeii). Here within this paradigmatic interregnum, the causes, mechanisms, and consequences of war are dissolved as though they were drugs being added slyly to wine to intoxicate unknowingly the viewer of the painting. If you look closely, you can see images of: the biblical Naomi, crying the tears of every woman who has lost the men of her life to war; a Maxim Gun and a Gatling gun (early machine guns that were the state of the art in late 19th-century firearms.); - a flamingo - Skunks; - a Gentleman; - a Hornbill; and - Moai statues from Easter Island

David Normal is a San Francisco painter and animator. Born in 1970, he is the son of Paul Butterfield Blues Band keyboardist, Mark Naftalin. Normal’s "Crossroads of Curiosity" is a suite of murals that extends the notion of a "cabinet of curiosity." The traditional cabinet of curiosity is a rectilinear arrangement of objects displayed in glass cases. Normal’s version seeks to encompass the world in a series of dramatic tableaux featuring provocative juxtapositions of vastly different times, places, and peoples. Normal used Victorian Era book illustrations exclusively from the digitized collection of the British Library to create the artwork. Beginning as black and white collages, the four pieces were developed into 8’ x 20’ lightbox murals that were arrayed around a common base. "Purcogitoresque" is a portmanteau neologism meaning: "In the style of forethought." It is derived from the words "Purgatory," "Percolate," "Cognition" and "Grotesque." Purcogitoresque is perhaps the most personal of the Crossroads series. David Normal personally identifies with the characters in the painting – particularly the artist, a Prince Myshkin like figure, who is seeking for his salvation through his own work. However, the figure of the Sultan who is simultaneously sacred and profane also appeals directly to the artist’s own sensibilities since he finds beauty in the paradoxes and contradictions of human nature. The two dandies reaching out to a jellyfish as though hailing a cab represent Normal’s own predilection for fashion and style, seemingly a pedestrian concern, while being preoccupied with truly otherworldly matters that transcend not only the latest trends, but the very fabric of space and time.

David Normal is a San Francisco painter and animator. Born in 1970, he is the son of Paul Butterfield Blues Band keyboardist, Mark Naftalin. Normal’s "Crossroads of Curiosity" is a suite of murals that extends the notion of a "cabinet of curiosity." The traditional cabinet of curiosity is a rectilinear arrangement of objects displayed in glass cases. Normal’s version seeks to encompass the world in a series of dramatic tableaux featuring provocative juxtapositions of vastly different times, places, and peoples. Normal used Victorian Era book illustrations exclusively from the digitized collection of the British Library to create the artwork. Beginning as black and white collages, the four pieces were developed into 8’ x 20’ lightbox murals that were arrayed around a common base. "Ostrischizocracy" is a portmanteau neologism meaning: "Rule by Schizophrenic Ostriches." It is derived from the word "ostrich"; the prefix "schizo"; and the suffix; "cracy." Ostrischizocracy was the first of the four compositions to be made. In some respects it is the simplest, but in other respects it is the most comical of the four paintings. It sets the stage with a number of motifs that are used throughout the paintings: Roman bathes, unconscious women, androgynous prophets with empty books, and hybrids of humans and birds. Look carefully at the series and you will find these motifs repeated and varied in a number of instances in the artwork. In particular, you will see images of: - ostriches; - Joseph Chamberlain (a late-19th century British cabinet minister who espoused the cause of imperial expansion); - Guy Fawkes; - Hataska (a barbarian princess, swooning in the bathing pool, commits the sacrilege of fondling the Muslim's beard in one hand, while holding the sacred lotus flower in the other hand – perhaps the very flower that has intoxicated her); - a prophetess; - and Chinese Convicts.

From the Wikipedia entry: Born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1979 Chris Dyer moved to Lima, Peru at age 4. Chris started skateboarding at 8 years old, surfing at 12, and later fan-based gang violence at a local soccer stadium. The name of the gang was "Sepulcro" who were fans of the Universitario de Deportes. Chris’ parents sent him to Canada to study, in 1996, at age 17. He lived in Ottawa with his grandmother, where he attended Heritage College and University of Ottawa. During those years he was a heavy drinker and was very self-destructive. He moved to Montreal in 2000 to study Illustration at Dawson College. In the summer of 2001 he went tree planting which is when he stopped drinking and started the pursuit of a much more spiritual path.He has also studied under (and later taught alongside) visionary masters including Alex Grey, Robert Venosa, Martina Hoffman, Laurence Caruana, A. Andrew Gonzales, Maura Holden, and Amanda Sage. His travels brought him to many countries including Belgium, where he met his wife Valerie Lambert, who he married in 2010. He continues to live off his craft and travel the world exhibiting art, painting murals and teaching workshops.

The alligator in the corner of the mural reminds me a little of Albert Alligator, a character in the classic Pogo comic strip. Created by cartoonist Walt Kelly (1913–1973) and set in the Okefenokee Swamp of the southeastern United States, the strip often engaged in social and political satire through the adventures of its anthropomorphic funny animal characters. Walt Kelly first used the quote "We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us" on a poster for Earth Day in 1970. The quote was a parody of a message sent in 1813 from U.S. Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to Army General William Henry Harrison after his victory in the Battle of Lake Erie, stating, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours."

The first edition of the MURAL street art festival took place during the summer of 2013 on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, in downtown Montreal. Already a street art hot spot, the boulevard, known here as The Main, went through a major transformation. Twenty street artists from all over the world were invited to create murals of various sizes and styles. Saint-Laurent boulevard used to be a lively artery in Montreal. In the last decade, businesses have been closing and ongoing street repairs have slowed foot traffic. The MURAL festival was organized to rebrand the street, giving it new, bright colors and an effervescent atmosphere that would draw people back. MURAL was founded through a collaboration between artistic marketing agency LNDMRK and the Société de développement du boulevard Saint-Laurent (Saint Lawrence Boulevard Merchants’ Association). With more than 800,000 visitors over four days, both organizations deemed it a success. Aesthetically, the objective was to create an open, outdoor museum. Big names from the international street art scene recruited, such as Escif (Spain), Phlegm (Great Britain) and Pixel Pancho (Italy). Many local artists, including Jason Botkin, Omen, Le Bonnard and Chris Dyer were also invited to make their mark on Montreal’s walls. Twenty building facades were chosen to be covered. Artists were free to design and paint the murals according to their own style and inspiration and they were well supplied with the paint and tools required to create the giant murals. The MURAL festival is poised to become an annual event (rumours has it that a 5 year contract has been signed). Mural painting was the core of the event, but other activities such as body painting, live music and dance troupe shows were also offered to the public.

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