Salford Museum & Art Gallery - The Omnipotence of Dream - Review

Absent from my last post, The Omnipotence of Dream merits a standalone exploration. On until 23 February 2025, the exhibition marks 100 years since the publication of Breton's Surrealism Manifesto. It promises to reframe the problematic aspects of Breton, his ideas and his actions, navigating his autocratic grip on the movement to explore where surrealism stands today. 

Now, I love surrealism. Ernst, Klee, and Carrington stand among my favourite artists, as well as abstract offshoots such as Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Hilma af Klint, and Alexander Calder (the latter of whom I have a tattoo of one of his works). In fact, the 'Imagine: 100 Years of International Surrealism' exhibition at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, was a decisive factor leading to my current study of Art Gallery and Museum Studies at the University of Manchester. I was so energised by the exhibition; I wanted to figure out why. I am far from an expert in Surrealism, just a fan, but finding this exhibition within Salford Museum & Art Gallery was a pleasant surprise. 

Image via Flux Magazine

Curated by D. Hancock, P. Chambers, A. Tait, and D. Wooley, this exhibition takes and displays six works of British Surrealism found within the galleries stores. Alongside these are works which take inspiration from, or directly respond to them. Some come from contemporary British Surrealist artists, and some from Fine Art Students from the University of Salford and Leeds Art Academy. Also included is a micro-exhibition of curator D. Handcock's doll-centric works, which I will get to later. Many of the pieces, much like the prior Burdock gallery, are for sale.

As before, I encountered this exhibition from arguably the wrong direction. While back-to-front wouldn't normally phase me, I was a bit annoyed to miss directions to stream an audio file - entitled 'Passing Cloud' - acting as a soundscape to accompany the exhibition. This audio, designed by students, would have been right up my street, but by the time I had learnt of it, I had one foot out of the gallery. A subsequent visit is in order. 

The groupings of the work functioned quite well. It was immediately apparent which the archival examples were. They were better framed, placed in prime position, and - to my eye at least - a touch more sophisticated than the majority of the surrounding works. This is far from a critique of the other artists. Some pieces were very strong. The resonances between the works were clear, and the object labels on students works gave concise but effective justifications of the artworks and their respective place in the gallery. 

Pas de Deux - J. Tunnard (1946) - image via The Fourdrinier

Charlie Currid's 'Broken Biscuits' (2024) stood out. An unreal structure sitting in oceanlike blues and greens, designed in conversation with John Tunnard's 'Pas de Deux' (1946), which was sitting not too far away. Many of the other student responses were admirable - far better than anything I could paint, obviously - yet Currid's stood out to me. 

The Colonization of Techniques - S. Powers - image via seanpowerz.com

Another stand out was Sean Power's 'The Colonization of Techniques' - on sale for £5k. This work, designed by overlapping layers in photoshop then painting the results, displayed an intriguing interplay of textures and pattern that stood apart from much of the rest of the exhibition. As did James Moore's 'Island Time', which depicted an unreal - surreal - landmass in a tranquil sea. 

Thinness Chaser - D. Leapmann - image via salfordmuseum.com

'Thinness Chaser', by David Leapman, is both striking and on sale for £12k. ( I can't tell if I'm critiquing the use of Museum space for commercial ventures, supporting its use as an avenue for funding artists, or marketing the works themselves to all of my nine readers) 

Memorial Heart (w/out entire assemblage)  - D. Wooley - image via salfordmuseum.com

However, in amongst the strong showings of abstraction and surrealism, both from students, and 20th century and contemporary artists, my favourite work was found within a sort of alcove. 'Memorial (Tongue)' and 'Memorial (Heart)' by Dawn Wooley - a co-curator - were unfortunately not for sale. As if I could afford anything within here anyway. Each work was a print of a photograph of their respective body part resting in a large sea shell. The shell lay on a mirrored surface and was flanked by party paraphernalia. This photograph, rendered as a circle, was pasted onto a patterned background. The whole assemblage rested - not on the gallery wall - but upon two deflating balloon, sitting on the gallery floor. It upset the traditional use of space and sunk its teeth into commentary on the commodification celebration, or replication of the corporeal, or flesh. To me, it seemed to speak to both the idea of aging, and the feeling that we are disparate, disconnected things muddled together. Rather than the human form, what is pictured is merely the tongue, or the heart. Both of which come preloaded with such potent symbolism and meaning. I thought these works were brilliant. 

A Room with a View of The Moon (after Eileen Agar) - D. Hancock - image via salfordmuseum.com 

Less brilliant - to me - however, was the overabundance of Hancock's works. Each depicted a doll-esque figure, a sort of infantilised, hyper-proportioned mannequin of uncanniness, sitting or standing in a convoluted, very detailed scene. They each seemed like dioramas; the work of an over productive mind, and - and this is an unfair comparison - seemed to me like an overworked Lisa Frank type image. My dislike of the paintings could have been kept to a minimum, apart from the fact that there were twelve of them, each lined up in the entrance way to the exhibition. Sure, they borrowed from surrealism, in more of the Dali tradition, but I felt they were a distraction from the other works here on display. The platforming of Hancock's own work felt rather self-absorbed - and reifies his placement as the first listed curator (non-alphabetical, I might add). On both a mere aesthetic, and a more conceptual level, I did not connect with this section of the exhibition. 

However, the artistic and academic drive behind this exhibition remains solid. In an interview with Hancock, he is quoted as saying "my aim for the exhibition is to explore how Breton's vision of Surrealism remains a possibility". In this, there is success. Surrealism, for all its ideological failings, and the regressive political commitments of its founder, remains intriguing and a potent space for explorations of unbounded ideas. Ideas which emerge within this space. 

 

'The Omnipotence of Dream' is free to visit at Salford Museum & Art Gallery until 23 February 2025