Jacques Resch

[Les maisons qui volent - Jacques Resch]

Jacques Resch is a surrealist artist born in France in 1945, who now lives in Africa. His paintings have a remarkable resemblance to the styles of Gonsalves, Breughel and Dali combined, although not as straight forward as Gonsalves' works, not as crowded as Breughel's nor as wacky as Dali's. Resch's style is also influenced by Symbolism, especially on paintings like "Les pyramides" and "Le Diabolo".

Resch names his influences in style: "Bosch, Brueghel and Dali", which stand clear in his works. The first of them has Resch's full respect ('Bosch uses dreams to adventure into the interior of the human spirit'). Resch's works are influenced by modern technology and world politics.

Some of his works can be found for preview and sale on http://www.jacquesresch.com/.

Magic Realism

So, what the hell is Magic Realism?

Magic Realism is an artistic movement in which supernatural events occur in reality. The main characteristic is that the event itself is not seen as magic in this setting (the characters don't see it as magic), it's just "another event".

The term was coined by art critic Franz Roh to describe imagery of an altered reality, and it was also used by Arturo Uslar-Pietri to describe the literary works of Latin American writers, like Gabriel García Marquéz and José Saramago.

Much of the imagery described as Magic Realism is quite famous, like the works of Salvador Dalí, Rob Gonsalves and René Magritte. Tim Burton (movie director and designer) touches Magic Realism in some of his productions, being Big Fish the most proeminent example.

Why should it matter?

It should matter because Magic Realism usually helps us understand how someone sees (evaluates) something. Much of what we hear about turn into an exagerated stereotype, which leads us to (unfulfilling) expectations about something. Watching Big Fish is a great way to understand how something that we don't believe can be real, taking the "too much" out off it.

Kevin J. Maroney brought up an interesting answer by García Marquéz: that there's no magic in One Hundred Years of Solitude". Maroney also states that "Gabo uses magical imagery to help us rediscover the real world".

I've been editing and publishing a lens on Magic Realism on Squidoo.