Art comes together in all forms on Friday night for the eighth annual Surreal Salon Soiree.
Attendees will arrive in inventive avant-garde costumes, prepared to celebrate the showcased artists’ work in the realm of lowbrow and pop surrealist art.
Surreal Salon is an annual exhibition held at the Baton Rouge Gallery where artists submit a collection of their work to be judged and selected for placement in the gallery.
The exhibition is open now and available for viewing to the public until Jan. 28. On Jan. 22, BRG holds its Surreal Salon Soiree at 7 p.m., showcasing the art with a musical performance, an Elevator Projects installation and more to guests dressed to the nines in their finest costumes.
The event is planned and conducted by BRG Executive Director Jason Andreasen, who has served in the position since 2008.
This year, 670 works were entered for admission into the show from across the country. Pieces from 23 different states were chosen for exhibition in the salon by 2016 guest juror Elizabeth McGrath.
McGrath is a Los Angeles native and has over two decades of experience within the pop surrealism movement. McGrath has several solo shows credited to her around the world, and has curated other shows. She is also an author and the lead singer of Miss Derringer.
McGrath said the varied criteria she based her final selections on were fitting into the genre, technical skill, mastery of craft, the idea behind the piece and her connection to it. McGrath said she made her selections while abiding by a blind jurying process, meaning she was never aware of the artist’s identity throughout her decision-making.
“I was trying to have a good eye for all of it, and using the past experience and history I have with [pop surrealism] was what I was trying to bring to the table,” McGrath said.
While going back and forth between pieces, McGrath imagined the artist working on the piece. As an artist, she said she knows how disappointing it can be for one’s passion to be rejected.
“Every submission was great,” McGrath said. “It was heartbreaking for me not to be able to include everyone.”
McGrath’s own body of work consists of mostly 3-D art and sculptural pieces, so the juror said she was immediately drawn to other works containing familiar elements.
In her explanation on the distinction between lowbrow and pop surrealism, she describes pop surrealism as beautiful while lowbrow is grittier, McGrath said. Both art movements helped create the acceptance of all forms of art such as taxidermy and graffiti.
“I think if anything, this movement, along with other offshoot movements, are just gonna get bigger and bigger,” McGrath said.
McGrath emphasized how fundamental peer and colleague support was to the lowbrow and pop surrealism community to get it off the ground.
“It’s the appreciation of art for art’s sake, which I love,” she said. “People are excited about their craft and their growth within it.”
Non-profit local artist collective Elevator Projects will be performing an outdoor interactive installation at the soiree for its fourth year. This year’s theme is “Hairy Fairy Fungi Forest.”
The audience interaction is performance based, and will be different from previous shows. Project manager and LSU alumna Stephanie Landry said instead of having guests look at their art, they create an environment for the viewer, making them a part of the creation. This year includes a performance within the installation, making it more interactive.
The seven person Elevator Projects team is composed of all volunteers. Landry said they spend about a month creating everything needed for their performance, and then have 18 hours prior to the soiree to set up, get into costumes and be performance ready.
Elevator Projects generates a new theme for the soiree each year.
“We incorporate the theme on a looser scale,” Landry said. “With anything we like to do, having fun is the No. 1 priority. We like to take semi-familiar things and make them more surreal, more extravagant.”
Elevator Projects’ main focus is on being a creatively diverse, inclusive collective. The group is ever-evolving, and only requires volunteers be open to creative ideas and the learning process.
Hank & Cupcakes, consisting of married duo Sagit “Cupcakes” Shir and Ariel “Hank” Scherbacovsky are scheduled to headline the soiree.
The band has been touring for the past year, and has played in Louisiana several times prior to this event. They are currently producing their second album, which is what their setlist for the night will mostly consist of. Shir does main vocals and drums, while Scherbacovsky plays bass and pedal board. Their sound is a mix of electropop, funk and indie.
“A very big part of what Hank & Cupcakes is beyond the music,” Shir said. “It’s in the way we present ourselves, the way we dress and looking for new artistic ways to express ourselves, not only through the music but through our bodies. We use our bodies and we push boundaries a lot.”
Hank & Cupcakes usually dress up for their shows, donning face paint and quirky and flamboyant clothing. However, Shir hinted at the band assembling a special ensemble for this particular event.
“We’ll feel right at home,” Shir said.

Gallery • 32 Photos

Greta Jines

Surreal Salon 8 features work from 60 artists, ranging from painting to sculpture. The exhibition will be on display until Jan. 28, 2016 at Baton Rouge Gallery.