On the fraudulent activities of ‘Surrealism-Now’
What today is
labeled as ‘Art’ has nothing to do with Imagination and the
Marvelous and, in most cases, is no more than a fabricated rendering of the
miserabilism that dominates the world. Of course, there are exceptions, those
oxygenated brilliancies we seek in our quest for the gold of time, inspired
marvels that will never follow the rules of academic aesthetics. What interests
us most in art is the act of creating, rather than the result: as already made
clear by André Breton in 1928, in his essay Surrealism
and Painting, there is no such thing as ‘surrealist art’. Painting, poetry,
photography, sculpture and cinema, amongst other activities, are, for us, means
of transforming our relationship with the world. Poetic inspiration is not a
secondary phenomenon for us; it is essential for all authentic art. Abandoning
poetic inspiration for the sake of social pressures or those of the market
would result in the absurd consequence of destroying the creative spirit
itself.
The total
submission to conformist social codes and to the rules of the market by an
association of pseudo-artists deceitfully calling itself the ‘International
Movement Surrealism-Now’ compels us to caution all sympathizers with Surrealism
against this band of swindlers and purveyors of rubbish.
Under the
leadership of a certain Santiago Ribeiro, this grouping has already manifested
itself, in 2014, in a collective exhibition at the historic Headquarters of the
Knights Templar in the town of Condeixa, near Coimbra, Portugal.
Now, the same
band, still lead by Mr. Ribeiro, who has informed the media that he is
"the main leader" of the "largest surrealist group in the world”, with "over one hundred participants
from more than twenty-five countries", and having a number of
church-muralists and militarists as members, is once again exhibiting in
Condeixa, an event that has been widely publicized. Here are some quotes from
an interview with Santiago Ribeiro that might shed some light on the
‘philosophy’ of the ‘Surrealism-Now’ enterprise:
*
Surrealism in the twenty-first century is completely different from the
movement that appeared in 1924, when Breton launched his manifesto. Today’s
realities are completely different: today, we have global warming, generalized
capitalism and a completely different form of communicating...
*
If Surrealism is to survive, it has to live in accordance with the present
era...
*
Surrealism according to Breton’s principles is not something to which I would
like to belong.
*
My own painting has an ancient atmosphere of crucifixion...
*
Something that does not exist is what I call ‘surreal’...
*
There are places in our country of such beauty that we take the opportunity to
talk about their cultural and historical richness while at the same time
promoting our art...
We reply to
this opportunist Ribeiro and his
‘Surrealism-Now’ gang: DAMN YOU ALL!
The
aspirations of true Surrealism are elsewhere: the advent of a new civilization
where banal reality will be transformed into a marvelous surreality. We despise
your ridiculous, demagogic and cacophonic manifestations that falsify
Surrealism’s ambitions and aspirations and that attempt to take commercial
advantage from a fraudulent activity.
This
declaration has been signed by the surrealists:
Xoan
Abeleira; Jaime Alfaro; Alberto Assumpção; Melatonino Beal; Magdalena
Benavente; Jan Bervoets; Verónica Cabanillas; Miguel de Carvalho; Eugenio
Castro; José Miguel Pérez Corrales; Daniel Cotrina; David Coulter; Kenneth Cox;
Célia Cymbalista; Luke Dominey; Guy Ducornet; Kathleen Fox; Victor Fuentes
Marambio; Tono Galán; Javier Gálvez; Guy Girard et les autres membres du Groupe
de Paris du Mouvement Surréaliste; Xesús González Gómez; Allan Graubard; Vicente
Gutiérrez Escudero; Janice Hathaway; Beatriz Hausner; Mazo Heck; Rodrigo
Hernández Piceros; Dale Houston; Bill Howe; Karl Howeth; Joseph Jablonski;
Bruno Jacobs; Alex Januário; Patrick Lepetit; Sergio Lima; Rik Lina; Léo Litha;
Michael Löwy; Alexandre Magno; Lurdes Martínez; Armando McMurray; Richard Misiano-Genovese, Luiz
Morgadinho; David Nadeau; Peter Overton; Jean-Pierre Paraggio; Gregorio
Paredes; Nelson de Paula; Seixas Peixoto; Pierre Petiot; Pedro Prata; Carlos
Rangel; Raman Rao; Alejandro Rejon Huchin; John Richardson; José Manuel Rojo;
Penelope Rosemont; Enrique de Santiago; Gregg Simpson; Dan Stanciu; Ludovic
Tac; Jonathan Tarry; Laurens Vancrevel; Rodrigo Verdugo Pizarro; Cristina
Vouga; Claudia Vila; Her de Vries; Richard Waara; Zazie Evi Möchel;
being members
of the following surrealist groups: Cabo Mondego Section of Portuguese
Surrealism; Grupo Surrealista de Madrid; Leeds Surrealist Group; Groupe de
Paris du Mouvement Surréaliste; Chicago Surrealist Group; Xalundes/Grupo
Surrealista Galego; Brumes Blondes, Holland; Grupo Surrealista Derrame (Chile);
Grupo Surrealista de São Paulo; Grupo Surrealista Agharta (Chile); Grupo DeCollage
(São Paulo); Groupe le Vertèbre et le Rossignol; Peculiar Mormyrid Group;
joined by
independent surrealists and sympathizers;
acting together
in the service of the International Movement of Surrealism.
January 19,
2018