Surrealism Research

Surrealism Artists

Photographer: Erik Johansson

Painter:  Frida Kahlo

Johansson:  He grew up in Götene, Sweden on a farm with his two younger sisters and his parents. At a young age he got interested in computers and when he turned 15 years old he got his first digital camera. He used to play around with the pictures that he look on the computer, but he didn't consider that as a profession for himself until he got older. Than in 2005 he went to Gothenburg to study computer engineering at Chalmers University of Technology. When he was there he picked up his interest again, and published some of the pictures online. He started to get a few requests from a few local advertising agencies. That’s when he wanted to try out the Photography path instead and he got more and more jobs. In 2012 he moved to Berlin, Germany for inspiration. Now he works with both personal and commissioned projects. He also has been working with Google, Adobe, and Microsoft.

Kahlo: She grew up near Mexico City. When she turned 6 she developed polio and never fully recovered the use of her right leg. Than when she was 18 she got into a bus accident and had a few serious injuries. While she was recovering, her mother bought her paints and a mirror. As she laid in her bed for months, she created hundreds of self-portraits and taught herself how to draw and oil painting. She married Diego Rivera at the age of 22, they both had lovers and then got divorced but then remarried in 1940.

Artist Name: Erik Johansson

Title: Zip City

Date: 2015

Description: Tractors on a farm trying not to get zipped up by the buildings.

Analysis: The buildings take up a lot of space in the picture. You can also tell the sun is coming from the upper left corner because of the shadows of the buildings. Also on the left side of the picture is brighter than the right side of the picture.

Interpretation: I think that this photo means that the city life is kind of taking over in a way. There is only a small part of the farm in the picture and then a great amount of buildings all around it. Plus the zipper makes me feel like we want to take out the farmland as fast as possible.

Judgment: I like this piece a lot; I feel it’s very accurate especially now a days. Parks and farmland are being taken down for business buildings all the time. I like how it’s easy to determine what it means. 

Artist: Frida Kahlo

Title: Self-Portrait

Date: 1932

Description: It looks like the left half of the painting is a part of Mexico because she has the Mexican flag on that side of the painting. On the right half of the painting is the American because of the USA flag in the clouds. The American side has a lot of buildings and factories are what it looks like. On the Mexican side it has statutes and what looks like flowers on the bottom.

Analysis: I feel like the left side of the painting (the American side) has more objects in it, it looks more crowded. Whereas on the right side there isn't as much stuff and it’s spaced out. The first thing I look at in this painting is the American side because of the fact that there is more stuff on that side.

Interpretation: I don’t really know the meaning of this painting. All I really know is that she is on the borderline between Mexico and the United States.

Judgment: I think this painting is good. I just wish it was easier to determine what it means. 

Comparison: 

I feel in Johansson’s art work it’s simpler; there is only a three different things to look at. Whereas in Frida Kahlo’s art work there is so much to look at, it seems a lot more complicated. Then there is the obvious difference that Johansson used Photoshop. Also the farm in Johansson work looks like a real farm. In Frida Kahlo’s work everything is painted, nothing in Johansson’s work is painted.