Play Like A Surrealist

Automatic drawing is a Surrealist and Dadaist technique where artists let their subconscious guide their hand, bypassing conscious control to create abstract, free-flowing art. 

Try variations like drawing with closed eyes or placing a sheet of paper on top of your head and drawing — the key is to focus on anything except the drawing itself. 

This method unlocks creativity and self-expression, making it ideal for beginners.

In 1926, Max Ernst revolutionized art with his publication Histoire Naturelle, a series of prints showcasing frottage’s potential through remarkably detailed textures. This technique has since become a staple for artists seeking to create unique, organic patterns.

How to Create Frottage Art:

Materials:

• Textured surfaces (wood, leaves, fabric, coins)
• Soft drawing tools (pencil, charcoal, sanguine)
• Thin paper (Xerox or papyrus paper works well)

Technique:

1. Place your paper over a textured object
2. Gently rub with your drawing tool to reveal the hidden patterns
3. Experiment with pressure and angles for varied effects

Pro Tip: Try layering multiple frottages for surreal compositions!

Exquisite Corpse: The Surrealist Collaborative Game

Origins:
First played by Parisian surrealists in the 1920s, this game takes its name from the unexpected phrase that emerged during their first session: “Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau” (“The exquisite corpse will drink new wine”).

Written Version:

• Players: 2 or more
• How to play:
  1. Players alternate writing words or phrases on a folded paper
  2. Each player only sees the immediately preceding entry
  3. The final reveal creates surprising poetic connections

Drawn Version:

• Players: 2 or more
• How to play:
  1. Participants take turns drawing sections of a figure
  2. Fold to conceal your portion after each turn
  3. Mark connection points for the next artist
  4. The paper transforms into a folded “accordion”
  5. Unfold to reveal your collective surreal creation

Why it’s special:
This game celebrates chance encounters and unconscious creativity, perfectly embodying the surrealist spirit of unexpected connections.

Collage: Mixing Materials to Make Art”

Collage is when artists glue different materials together to create new pictures. Famous artists like Picasso and Braque started using this technique in the 1900s, and it became very popular in modern art.

Surrealist artists loved collage because:

• They could combine random things to make strange new pictures
• The unexpected mixes made people feel surprised or confused
• It helped show ideas from dreams and the imagination

Artists like Max Ernst and Dalí made collages with weird combinations:
▸ Insects + body parts
▸ Buildings + nature
▸ Normal objects in strange places

These dreamlike collages made people see the world in new ways.

Cubomania: The Surrealist Art of Chance”

Created by Romanian artist Gherasim Luca, this innovative technique involves:

1. Cutting an image into equal squares
2. Randomly rearranging them to form a new composition

Key Principles:

• Destroys the original image’s meaning
• Creates near-abstract results
• Embraces chance over artistic control
• Reveals unconscious visual connections

The name combines “cubo” (cube) and “mania” (obsession), reflecting the method’s grid-based madness. Luca saw this as a way to bypass conscious creation and tap into deeper psychological processes.

Decalcomania: The Surrealist Art of Chance

What is it?
Decalcomania is an automatic Surrealist technique that creates unpredictable, organic patterns through paint transfer between surfaces. Popular in the 1930s-40s, it became a key method for exploring subconscious imagery.

How it Works:

1. Apply wet paint (thick or diluted) to a smooth surface (glass/paper)
2. Press onto canvas/paper and carefully peel apart
3. Reveal unique, fluid formations resembling:
   • Dream landscapes
   • Biological forms
   • Abstract structures

Artistic Process:
Many artists, like Oscar Domínguez (who pioneered its abstract use), would then:

• Interpret the random patterns
• Develop them into figurative scenes
• Enhance the surreal elements with additional drawing

Notable Practitioners:

• Max Ernst (used for eerie textures)
• Hans Bellmer
• Yves Tanguy
• Remedios Varo
  (Each adapted the technique differently — Domínguez’s abstract approach stood apart)

Bulletism: Invented by Bruno Eloi in 1936, this technique involved spraying ink or paint onto a clean surface. The resulting patterns, seemingly random, were then interpreted and transformed into representational images. It embodies the surrealist embrace of chance and surprise.

Calligram: Finding poetry in a new language.

Made famous by Guillaume Apollinaire, calligrams go beyond simple word-image pairs. They use the visual arrangement of text to directly enhance or even become the theme of a poem or message. Text doesn’t just describe, it shows. Think of words shaped like falling rain directly illustrating a poem about rain.

Sculptural automatism and coulage: automatism, a core principle of surrealism, aims to create art without conscious control. In sculpture, this may involve the ability of the hands to instinctively manipulate materials such as clay or plaster, guided by impulse rather than by preconceived plans. Coulage is a specific technique in this field. It involves dripping or pouring molten materials such as wax or lead into cold water. The rapidly hardening forms, entirely controlled by chance and the properties of the materials, create unpredictable and fascinating sculptural pieces.

Entopic Graphomania: Developed by Dolfi Trost, this technique involved placing dots at the intersections of lines on a printed material (such as newsprint). These dots were then connected by lines, resulting in complex abstract designs conditioned by an existing but arbitrary structure. This highlights the Surrealists' interest in finding the unusual in the ordinary.

Grattage: Invented by Max Ernst, grattage involved scraping paint from a prepared surface (often textured by rubbing it onto objects). The resulting textures and patterns, created through the interplay of chance and the artist’s manipulation, evoke dreamlike and unsettling landscapes.

Involuntary Sculpture: Similar to sculptural automatism, this technique emphasizes the unintentional or accidental creation of sculptural forms. This may involve accumulating discarded materials, modifying found objects through subconscious gestures, or simply observing the unintentional sculptural qualities of everyday objects.

Assemblage: Although it predates Surrealism, assemblage, the art of creating three-dimensional compositions from found objects, became a favored technique of the Surrealists. Artists such as Joseph Cornell, Kurt Schwitters, and Louise Nevelson collected seemingly disparate objects and combined them to create surprising, often unsettling, narratives and visual metaphors.