When I was in grad school I had to study my own art and artistic process and write a thesis about it. It was then that I discovered the niche where my art belongs in the Art World – a style called Magic Realism.
The term “Magic Realism” was first used by Franz Roh in his book, Nach-expressionismus (Post-Expressionism) written in 1925. He later used the same term in 1968 in his new book German Art in the 20th Century. He also called this new development in art “The New Objectivity” (F. Roh, German Art in the 20th Century. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society, 1968, 112.) By using the term Magic Realism Roh is referring to Post-Expressionistic artwork in which some mystery or secret seems to be hidden within the subject matter. As opposed to Expressionism, “Magic Realism emphasizes the object and the everyday life in new and unfamiliar ways. Juxtapositions of sharply rendered and detailed elements, both in the foreground and back ground, are used to develop an air of mystery or ambiguity. They remind us that there are still many mysteries in life.” http://www.tendreams.org/magic-art.htm
Roh used the following dichotomies to highlight the differences between Expressionism and Magic Realism:
| Expressionism: | Magic Realism: |
| Ecstatic subjects Rhythmical Extravagant Dynamic Loud Close-up view Monumental Thick color texture Rough Emphasis on the visibility of the painting process Centrifugal Expressive deformation |
Sober objects Representational Puristically severe Static Quiet Close and far view Miniature Thin paint surface Smooth Effacement of the painting process Centripetal External purification of the object (Roch. 113) |
I found more similarities with my artwork among the attributes of Magic Realism than Expressionism. I believe that my style developed more towards representational, quiet, static images in painting, turning daily life into eerie form, with a thin paint surface, although I experimented with the opposite qualities as well, never finding much satisfaction in them. Some of my works are more surrealistic (Caged and If I Could Have Opened My Heart), while others (In the Room With Memories or In the Room With the Magic Ball) can be referred to as Magic Realism.
In Art History, Magic Realism acted as a portal to Surrealism, and many artists shifted back and forth from one to another, especially Magritte (Roch, 138). When I discovered the website ww.tendreams.org I found a few artists there who I knew before and considered them as influences, but did not realize that they belonged to the Magic Realism group, among them Andrew Wyeth, George Tooker and Charles Scheeler. These artists sometimes crossed the boundaries between Surrealism, Symbolism and Magic Realism. My work also shifts back and forth across the boundaries of Surrealism and Magic Realism, while a large number of other works as you can see on my website www.allaparsons.com are just studies from life: Figure, Still Life and Landscape. I feel the need to work on these Life Studies and I am constantly working to improve my skills in observational drawing and painting. However I consider Magic Realism my major work which takes a longer time to go through the process in my mind, before ripening and appearing, first on sketchbook pages and then on canvas.
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