Alright so here's the thing - got curious about how surrealist sculptures actually messed things up for modern art. Saw this wild photo of Dalí’s lobster phone and just thought, how did anyone even make this stuff? Decided to try my own hand at it this weekend.
Getting Started Was... Weird
Honestly didn't know where to begin. Just dove in headfirst. Grabbed random junk from my garage – old clock parts, bent spoons, a broken toy car. Figured if those surrealists liked dreams, I’d start messy. Glued them all together on a plywood base. Looked like absolute garbage. My kid walked in and asked if it was "robot trash." Not inspiring.
The Plaster Nightmare
Switched gears. Remembered Giacometti’s skinny figures. Thought, "How hard can thin be?" Spoiler: very. Made a wire skeleton of a stretched-out guy. Mixed plaster. First try went like cold oatmeal - slumped right off the wires. Whole table covered in white gunk. Cursed. Mixed a thicker batch. Slapped it on. Took forever to shape. Made weird lumps where muscles should be. Hands were freezing. Ended up with something that looked like a melted snowman. Totally not Giacometti. Left it drying near the heater – big mistake. Cracked down the middle overnight. Trash can.
Dream Salvage Job
Felt stuck. Started looking at more photos – Meret Oppenheim’s fur cup! Genius and terrifying. Went to the thrift store. Found a cheap teacup and saucer. Fake fur remnant bin had pink leopard print. Bought glue. Spent hours carefully sticking fur onto china. Glue everywhere. Fingers stuck together. When it dried? Actually looked creepy and cool! Proudly showed the family. My wife wouldn’t touch it. Said it gave her the "brain itch." Kids poked it suspiciously. Put it in my office. Looks disturbingly fuzzy next to the printer.
Why This Mess Matters
Finally sat down after cleaning up all the plaster dust and fur scraps. Realized a few things through all this failed messing around:
- It’s All About the Mashup: Surrealists didn’t just draw weird pictures. They forced things together that fought each other. Fur on cups! Lobsters on phones! That messes with your brain harder than paint on a canvas.
- Broken is Beautiful: They used everyday stuff – teacups, spoons, gears – and broke them or twisted them. Suddenly, the "junk" becomes the point. Changed everything – modern artists still do this constantly with old stuff.
- Accidents Can Stick: My plaster cracked? Oppenheim probably had messy glue moments too. That raw, physical struggle to make the weird idea real? That hands-on chaos became the art. Opened the door for people using way weirder stuff later – like old tires or shopping carts as sculptures.
So yeah. My garage is a disaster, got glue in my hair, and my fuzzy teacup is haunting my desk. But getting my hands dirty making weird stuff? Made me realize those crazy surrealist sculptors didn’t just make weird statues. They kicked down the art door and shouted: "Anything goes! Throw stuff together! Break things!" Modern art never shut that door. It’s still wide open because of them. And honestly? That’s pretty cool.
