THE PIED PIPER DOUBLECROSS OF TRYING TO CLEANSE IMPURITY

Avant-garde surrealism stands as one of the most popular, reproduced, populist & publicized art styles in history which represents the beyond having nothing to do with the form itself; a distinction about engagement & more recently about consequences n' repercussion of a radical fringe movement becoming a mass phenomenon. Like the rock n' roll metaphor of aging dinosaurs churning out endless recyclings of greatest hits collections or embarking on reunion/farewell tours - the motives of these near-geriatrics will not appeal to the majority. Art is a bridge allowing for crossover into a world of wonderment conjuring up magic, meaning & memory but what happens when it 'sells out'? The defacto surrealist leader Andre Breton felt an immediate loathing for the instant seduction in which indie credibility could be cashed in for a payoff & Marcel Duchamp believed true crativity flowed from the raw unconscious. These notions that oppose deliberate packaging as commodity, tailormade for mass consumption create a split where moral philosophy conflicts with this initial, intentional avoidance now becoming a regular standard. Founding fathers like Man Ray are questioned for finding lucrative avenues in advertising & magazine publishing and Salvador Dali for becoming a brandname giant. While both where engineers with pursuits of the aesthetic not disingenous, their selective approach chose fantastical, bizarre, dream imagery that had no qualms about turning a profit. Breton was infuriated about ideas at the behest of money & drew more stringent boundary lines that only led to a full-fledged pop explosion at the worst being reduced to surface silliness. The true philosophy of surrealism lived in the minds of its conceivers. But isn't that always the way? Those crushed by their own success to have subcultures spawn sincere emotional response seized on by the mainstream? Such are the forward projections through/from music to fashion; the godfather revolution with its cycle of commerce & appropriation that explains the process of cash cow. For what is art without intent? Just a disposable decoration on a dorm room wall.