I've just read and enjoyed Nadia Choucha's Surrealism & the Occult (1991). I'll be adding more notes. Here's a starter (and a few Max Ernst works):
Nadia Choucha’s general summary of basic occult principles:
The universe is a single living substance.
The universe is comprised of interactive opposites.
Mind and matter are a unified entity.
Everything that exists corresponds in universal analogy –man/ woman is a microcosm of the universe.
Imagination is a real motivating force that can act upon matter in a subtle way.
Someone asked yesterday if I thought there was a resurgence of surrealism in Orange County??
Actually, I don’t think there’s a resurgence of Surrealism. There’s a resurgence of INTEREST in Surrealism. The February 2012 show, The Graffiti of War, in Montgomery at Mikey Teutul's Wolf Gang Galley may be a start. There are a lot-- a lot of veterans in Orange County. Art is a way for some of them to convey what happened.
Surrealism was a response to war. We are now in our 11th year of war. What’s taking surrealism so long to show back up?
Surrealism is just a name given to a literary, then visual response to the shocking poverty of a military or capitalist approach to strife. The Surrealists were passionate about urging some encounter with the unconscious as a component in a balanced life.
Hmmm... Is surrealism just another form of PTSD... if so, hold on there's more to come!
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