Seven years ago, the staff of Baton Rouge Gallery organized a one-night event of surrealist art for Louisiana artists at an off-site location.
The event was small, but welcoming to surrealist artists who didn’t have an exhibit opportunity like itself elsewhere. A year later, BRG decided to give the Surreal Salon Soiree another shot and make it a national submission exhibit. The event received even more positive response and solidified the Surreal Salon’s existence.
On Jan. 4, BRG opened its seventh annual Surreal Salon showcasing 58 works from 58 artists representing 25 different states. On Jan. 24 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., BRG will become a hub of art, costumes and music to celebrate this year’s exhibit with the Surreal Salon Soiree with selections from this year’s juror, Josh Agle, known as Shag.
Executive director Jason Andreasen said Shag is an artist based out of California.
“He is easily one of the biggest artists working out of this area of art or contemporary art,” Andreasen said.
Shag had 550 submissions to judge, three per artist. Andreasen said Shag’s criteria involved looking at the quality of work, along with what it was trying to say. He said Shag chose some works that were more focused on the message than the technicality while others focused more on the latter.
Surreal Salon gives artists with a surrealist bend an exhibit where their work feels at home. The art can be described as pop-surrealism and lowbrow art with a surrealist and pop culture influence. Andreasen said all the pieces have an emphasis on technical skill, actual drawing and different public icons — a different form of art from a fine art setting, or a typical Southern exhibit.
“A lot of the art that you find in the South tends to be pastoral scenes, or with our proximity to New Orleans, you see a lot of people portraying music in some fashion or musicians,” artist Carl Jacobson said. “There isn’t really much attention on this scale to surrealism.”
Jacobson is a Baton Rouge resident and a returning artist to the Surreal Salon. He said he’s humbled by the talent his work is displayed beside with how high the bar is to place in the showcase.
Jacobson isn’t the only artist representing Louisiana in the nation-wide exhibit.
Andreasen said while Shag didn’t know what pieces belonged to which artist while judging, there’s numerous artists from Louisiana— something he finds interesting coming from a state that doesn’t focus on surrealist art.
“Once the works are selected, you can see that there are certainly a number of strong artists in Louisiana who are doing this kind of work,” Andreasen said.
Some artists have come from farther distances to have his or her’s piece displayed in the Surreal Salon.
Eric Euler, a Baton Rouge resident and University graduate student, is originally from Canada. He said his only chance of displaying a piece in the show would be while he’s finishing his studies here, and he didn’t want to let the chance pass by. He said the exhibit‘s prestige has him excited for the opportunity.
Matthew Burrows, New York native and artist in Surreal Salon, is another returner to the showcase and finds it beneficial to have his work appear in the exhibit— for not only the stature but the overall similar aesthetic to his own work.
“[My] work itself is…often social commentary about very real things, but the aesthetic that I go for is sort of a surreal aesthetic,” Burrows said.
While the walls and podiums of BRG are already holding works of art, the one night Surreal Salon Soiree will include multiple other artistic elements.
The event will include music headliners, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, artist collective, Elevator Projects and many guests dressed in costume.
Andreasen said all these other elements add to the event’s overall experience.
“You take a show that has 58 works of art in it and all of a sudden, for one night only, you infuse you know, 500 more works of art,” Andreasen said.
He said many of the guests’ costumes are made by hand and some attendees come view the exhibit early to get inspiration for his or her evening ensemble. Past costumes include a homemade cockroach outfit and an apple core headpiece with sunglass lenses acting as the seeds or eyepieces.
“One of the things you will notice is we’ll have somebody who has $10 to their name and they’re in full costume and then you’ll have a wealthy person from the community who has an equally wonderful costume,” Andreasen said. “But for that night it’s kind of hard to tell who is who, so as a result everybody is on the same playing field.”
He said Surreal Salon is also happy to welcome Quintron and Miss Pussycat back as the event’s headliners. The husband and wife duo performed in 2011 and now return to the Surreal Salon Soiree to perform at the show’s biggest year to date.
Andreasen said the couple fits well with the exhibit and are artists in their own right. Quintron creates his own instruments, including one called the “drum buddy” that uses light to make sound. Miss Pussycat performs using a handmade puppet theatre she pulls from her purse.
“[They’re] entertainers that are well versed in artistry,” Andreasen said.
The Elevator Projects, outdoor installations that on constructed throughout the event, have also expanded this year with one being structured out front and out back of BRG.
Seven years ago, BRG staff never planned to have the Surreal Salon become what it is today, but Andreasen said he’s happy with how receptive the community, along with Baton Rouge visitors, have been to the exhibit. He said he’s also thankful to Baton Rouge Recreation and Park Commission who’s allowed the event to keep expanding in size and number.
“Hopefully it’ll only get bigger,” Andreasen said.

Gallery • 6 Photos

Raegan Labat

"The Rise and Fall" by Texas based artist Robert Pena is on view in Surreal Salon 7 exhibit until January 29 at Baton Rouge Gallery.