Massurrealism is a

portmanteau word In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.) Israeli שלט ''shalát'' 'remote control', an ellipsis ...

coined in 1992 by American artist James Seehafer, who described a trend among some

postmodern art Postmodern art is a body of art movements that sought to contradict some aspects of modernism or some aspects that emerged or developed in its aftermath. In general, movements such as intermedia, installation art, conceptual art and multimedia, ...

ists that mix the aesthetic styles and themes of

surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

and

mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...

—including pop art.Adam
"massurrealism"
Intute:arts and humanities (

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

), 17 October 2003. Retrieved 8 March 2008.

History

Massurrealism is a development of surrealism that emphasizes the effect of technology and mass media on contemporary surrealist imagery. James Seehafer who is credited with coining the term in 1992 said that he was prompted to do so because there was no extant definition to accurately characterize the type of work he was doing, which combined elements of

and

, the latter consisting of

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

and pop art—"a form of technology art."Seehafer, James
"Discussions: The Artist and Modern Society."
, lecture on Massurrealism at

Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

, Saint Petersburg Russia, 20 June 2000. Retrieved 8 March 2008. He had begun his work by using a shopping cart, and then incorporating collages of colour photocopies and

spray paint Spray paint (formally aerosol paint) is paint that comes in a sealed, pressurized can and is released in an aerosol spray when a valve button is depressed. The propellant is what the container of pressurized gas is called. When the pressure hol ...

with the artist's traditional medium of

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. Oil paint also has practical advantages over other paints, mainly because it is waterproof. The earliest surviving ...

. In 1995, he assembled a small group show near

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and found a local cyber-cafe, where he started to post material about massurrealism on internet arts news groups, inspiring some German art students to stage a massurrealist show. The next year he started his own web site, www.massurrealism.com and began to receive work from other artists, both mixed media and digitally-generated. He credits the World Wide Web with a major role in communicating massurrealism, which spread interest from artists in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

"Massurrealismus (Massurrealism)"
Ketterer Kunst Auction House, Munich Germany. Retrieved 21 December 2016. and in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

"Conoce más sobre el MASSURREALISMO? - Mexico City"
Retrieved 21 December 2016. Seehafer has stated: The differentiating factor, according to Seehafer, between surrealism and massurrealism is the foundation of the former in the early 20th century in Europe before the spread of electronic mass media. A common characteristic is the use of modern technology to fuse surrealism's traditional access to the unconscious with pop art's ironic contradictions."Selected examples of massurrealism"
Retrieved 29 October 2022. In 2005,

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

artist

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive ep ...

illicitly hung a rock in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

showing a caveman pushing a shopping cart, which was described as "a nice tribute to James Seehafer and Massurrealism."

Artists

British artist Alan King started to experiment with a combination of digital and traditional art methods in the 1990s, producing a majority of his works with photography and using computer techniques combining digital images with a multitude of traditional methods including oils, ink, acrylic, and watercolour.Impressions
Cover artist bio article - overview of Alan King & massurrealism - April 2010 (printed edition – Virginia, USA). Nationally renowned photographer Chip Simons incorporates both his photo images with digital collage.Chip Simon

/ref> German artist Melanie Marie Kreuzhof, who describes her work as massurrealistic, was commissioned in 2004 by the editor of the ''Spectakel Salzburger Festsiele Inside'' magazine to produce an artwork about

Erich Wolfgang Korngold Erich Wolfgang Korngold (; May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian composer and conductor, who fled Europe in the mid-1930s and later adopted US nationality. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential comp ...

's opera

Die tote Stadt (German for ''The Dead City''), Opus number, Op. 12, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957) set to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold. It premiered in ...

at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

.Dixon, Troy
"'Die tote Stadt', 2004"
korngold-society.org. Retrieved 8 March 2008. To make her work she took 9 digital photographs, composed them in a computer and printed the result directly onto canvas, which was then attached to a wooden frame, worked on with

acrylic paint Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. Dep ...

and had objects attached—3 guitar strings, a strand of hair and a silk scarf. The images and elements were derived from themes in the opera. Other artists include Cecil Touchon who works with sound collage & poetry, and conceptual artist / film set designer Jean Pierre Trevor describes his 'massurreal approach' to his multi-media work. American Southern artist John R. Adams / Johnny Ramage's Johnny Ramage
select works. Retrieved 8 November 2018. work consists of digital media, photography, and random Google images chosen through an automatic style and rendered in unsophisticated photo editing software. Ramage's work often focuses on ominous, absurd images inspired by frightening childhood events all depicted in style that suggests a low-fi, or 8-bit and contemporary aesthetic.North Louisiana Arts Council
- Retrieved 21 December 2016.

In popular culture

Hyperreality // Massurrealism is a

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

IPA beer sold by Hourglass Brewing Company. It is shipped from

Longwood, Florida Longwood is a city in Seminole County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 15,087 at the 2020 census. History With the advent of World War II, grow ...

. Hyperreality // Massurrealism - customer reviews
Retrieved 9 September 2022. In the 2013 indie movie "45 RPM", the protagonist, Charlie, describes her work as massurrealism while applying for an artist grant. 45 RPM (2013) - IMDb
- Retrieved 9 September 2022.45 RPM (2013) - excerpt
- Retrieved 9 September 2022.

Notes and references

External links

Massurrealism - Urban Art Minute
brief overview of the influences and origins (Art Media Journal)
Three Essays About Massurrealism
audiobook version released in 2013. Narrated by

Grover Gardner Grover Gardner (b 1956) is an American narrator of audiobooks. As of May 2018, he has narrated over 1,200 books. He was the ''Publishers Weekly'' "Audiobook Narrator of the Year" (2005) and is among '' AudioFile'' magazine's "Best Voices of the Cen ...

, 35 minutes
massurrealism.org
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History

Artists

In popular culture

See also

Notes and references

Further reading

External links