We’ve been seeing an uptick – perhaps you have too – in the surrealist inspired works on the street over the past couple of years. In fact it has heightened our interest so much recently that we will soon be looking at originals by Leonora Carrington to reacquaint ourselves with a master of the 20th century movement and to perhaps divine what is coming during globally turbulent times. For this reason it is not a surprise to see these street/studio artists opening a new show next week in the gallery/street that will be endeavoring to stare through the surrealist lens in London as well.

Given our poor choices in leaders, our unresponsive institutions, our heaving movements in society and science, and the march of the war industry directly toward what may already be the beginning of WWIII, it is appropriate to consider the role that surrealism played the last time we were slip-sliding toward Hell.

Here in London, the gallery BSMT Space presents what they are calling a New Surrealism with a selection of four new horseriders of the apocalypse: Ed Hicks, Enigm, Perspicere, and Ronch. Grandchildren of the original surrealism movement, they have the distinct honor of living beyond it. Now at the dawn of artificial intelligence, drones, and realistic robots, perhaps it is time to paint surreally, really.

Siting Andre Bretons pronouncements in the ‘20s about dreams and realities, this quartet “aims to explore this famous cultural movement through the lens of a new wave of artists whose dream-like scenes and illogical or bizarre imagery collectively explore the workings of the mind,” in these ‘20s. Here their unfamiliar landscapes are welcomed and complex – and familiar.

“From the automatic drawings and paintings of Stefano Ronchi and Enigm which attempt to unlock ideas and images from their unconscious minds to the dream worlds of Ed Hicks or hidden psychological tensions of Perspicere, this exhibition attempts to engage with this new reality through the veil of the Surrealist movement.”

BSMT Space. New Surrealism. Private view: 6pm – 9pm, Thursday 19th May 2022. London, UK. Click HERE for further information.

Participating artists:

Ed Hicks

Enigm

Perspicere

Ronch

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