Photo 9 Feb 3 notes Something’s not right… As much as I love surrealism, I myself have never had the sort of wild, fantastic dreams flowing from the canvases of the likes of Dalí or Ernst. My dreams are grounded in banal reality, yet there’s usually something slightly off, something not quite right… Something uncanny. That feeling is captured quite well in the style of magic realism. Tooker’s “Subway” above realistically depicts the alienation, the cold indifference and anonymity in modern urban life. Yet there’s also something going beyond the realism into the irrational. Men are standing in small crannies with their faces turned against the wall. The architecture is extending in almost impossible shapes. Something’s not right… George Tooker - Subway (1950)

Something’s not right…

As much as I love surrealism, I myself have never had the sort of wild, fantastic dreams flowing from the canvases of the likes of Dalí or Ernst. My dreams are grounded in banal reality, yet there’s usually something slightly off, something not quite right… Something uncanny.

That feeling is captured quite well in the style of magic realism. Tooker’s “Subway” above realistically depicts the alienation, the cold indifference and anonymity in modern urban life. Yet there’s also something going beyond the realism into the irrational. Men are standing in small crannies with their faces turned against the wall. The architecture is extending in almost impossible shapes. Something’s not right…

George Tooker - Subway (1950)


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