After Surrealism

Artist statement, originally printed in the catalogue for the travelling group exhibition After Surrealism, an historic overview of surrealistic tendencies in Danish art from the 1960’s and onwards, exhibited in a number of art halls and museums across Denmark in 2013-2014:

“My artistic work is the result of many different influences, and I have always had the conviction that it would be a mistake to restrict my work to one particular stereotype. Surrealism, however, has a special place in my creative life. This might be related to the fact that I was exposed to surrealistic art at a relatively early age, and long before I began making art myself. It was a powerful impetus; the dreamlike landscapes, the fascinating visualisations of mental states; the black humor and playful use of randomness and coincidence. I think that upon being exposed to the Surrealists, I developed a mutation in the brain, which has influenced my imagination ever since. I am also very attracted to the fact that Surrealism is not a dogmatic aesthetic or style, but rather a way of seeing things. A movement.

This kinship is present in my current work, whose ambition it is to make visible the inner world of the psyche, utilising the same logic that usually applies to events unfolding in space and time. What is interesting to me, is that there is a necessity, as well as a playfulness, in this way of producing images, reaching an essence, that can be visualised, but not explained.”

- David Dellagi