Trey Abdella
Vito Schnabel Gallery is pleased to present The Neverending Story: The Dream, opening December 12th in St. Moritz. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Manifesto of Surrealism, the exhibition will demonstrate the importance of the movement and its ongoing relevance for so many artists working today.
In his landmark 1924 polemic Manifesto of Surrealism, artist-philosopher André Breton proclaimed: “If the depths of our mind contain within it strange forces capable of augmenting those on the surface, or of waging a victorious battle against them, there is every reason to seize them…It is not the fear of madness which will oblige us to leave the flag of imagination furled. The case against the realistic attitude demands to be examined.” In 2024, a century after these words were published, artists continue to grapple with and interpret their encounters with the realm of the uncanny that exists beyond the surface of everyday life, creating art that is best described as Contemporary Surrealism.
The exhibition’s title, The Neverending Story: The Dream, refers to the Surrealists' preoccupation with both the cyclical nature of time and memory, a continuous narrative, and the personal and collective unconscious. Bringing together works by figures associated with the Surrealist movement and those whose work was influenced by it, the show will examine the ways in which artists have explored these themes over the last century. Each of these artists has pushed the boundaries of experimentation in painting and/or sculpture in their battle against the expected. With their questioning of traditional and rational thought in contemporary society, they construct bridges between the dream world, the unconscious, and the political struggles of their time.
The Neverending Story: The Dream features several important works from the first half of the 20th century, including Yves Tanguy’s Mars Azuré from 1948. The painting features the artist’s ambiguous, desolate landscape with a biomorphic figure, and exemplifies Tanguy’s ability to create dreamlike yet tangible scenes. A significant concern for the Surrealists was the idea of automatism, the idea of creating art without conscious thought or intentional planning. In Breton’s Manifesto, he defined Surrealism as “psychic automatism in its pure state…Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.” Max Ernst was also deeply engaged with this practice; Ernst’s Forêt-Arêtes – Grätenwald (1927), on view in the exhibition, demonstrates the artist’s grattage technique, developed from his innovative frottage method, in which he created rubbings of textured materials, allowing himself to free his creative process from control.
The Surrealists’ legacy has remained ever-present since its inception. From Jean-Michel Basquiat’s spontaneous, frenetic iconography to Jean-Marie Appriou’s fantastical figures, the themes introduced by the movement have continued to influence the work of later artists. Trey Abdella’s Rotten to the Core (2024), on view in the exhibition, depicts a close-up of a rotten apple, from the point of view of a school teacher who has presumably just taken a bite. A holographic fan creates an image of a cartoon worm, swirling around and inching along the surface of the painting, creating a sense of the uncanny in this seemingly mundane scene.
The exhibition features works by Trey Abdella (b. 1994), Isabelle Albuquerque (b. 1981), Jean-Marie Appriou (b. 1986), Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960 - 1988), Francesco Clemente (b. 1952), George Condo (b. 1957), Enzo Cucchi (b. 1949), Salvador Dalí (1904 - 1989), Giorgio de Chirico (1888 - 1978), Max Ernst (1891 - 1976), Robert Nava (b. 1985), Man Ray (1890 - 1976), Angel Otero (b. 1981), Ariana Papademetropoulos (b. 1990), Francis Picabia (1879 - 1953), Yves Tanguy (1900 - 1955), and Gus Van Sant (b. 1952).
The Neverending Story: The Dream will be on view at the gallery’s St. Moritz location through February 16, 2025. A reception will be held on December 27, 2024.
