Salvador Dali Exhibition 2012/07/10

 

..went to the Salvador Dali exhibit in Taipei yesterday. I was somewhat familiar with his works before the exhibit- I've learned a little about him in APAH last year& Dali was one of the leading surrealist painters. What I didn't know was that he also did quite a lot of sculpting as well... and when i saw those works yesterday i was IMPRESSED. 

Walking into the exhibition room felt like walking directly into the subconscious mind of the artist. Every piece looked as if it belonged in a dream, especially the sculptures--they made me feel like i was dreaming with my eyes open - w - Dali was REALLY good at capturing the blurry, inexplicable emotions/images that appear only in dreams or the subconscious mind & turning them into tangible sculptures. Wow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This one on the left, "Homage to Terpsichore", was one of my favorite because of its use of sharp, contrasting color + material. The two women depicted are muses from Greek mythology. (I'm not sure if the 2 of them are the same muse..) anyways one of them is the muse of song and dance named Terpsichore. I like how Dali used two contrasting ways to show two figures with reflecting poses. they're both made of bronze but while the left figure is smooth and shiny gold, the figure to the right is obviously much more angular with a more organic color of green. The two figures are at the same time juxtaposing and reflecting one another, creating an interesting, contemplative effect.

 "Space Elephant" is another interesting piece that I liked. Dali had drawn a couple of these elephants in drawing/ paintings, but the one that i saw was the sculpture version. The elephant with abnormally long legs( 3 jointed too!) is carrying an obelisk.. and looking like he might fall on the viewer any moment. I loved the uncertainty this piece brings. it just looks so... surreal and dreamlike. LOVEd it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking out of the exhibit I felt like I was waking from a dreamfilled nap... ehehe-___- 

Seeing Dali's amazing sculptures I was even tempted to try some sculpture making. but since i lack the material and time to actually create a 3D piece- i think for the artist inspiration piece i will try to design and just sketch out a surrealist sculpture of my own (or maybe just a painting in surrealist style..).