a Flow: A Senior Surreal Photo by Sheila Ahi (2014)

The most obvious surrealist portion of this piece is the fruit painting dripping out of the frame. The fruit are very detailed – it was originally and HDR photograph – with an added Oil Paint filter from Adobe Photoshop CS6. A deep reddish-purple is a color that stands out, not only because the grapes in the fruit bowl are that color, but there is a textured HDR brick background that matches it. Another two colors that stand out are gold, which is the photo frame, and a light green from the pear. Shadows are a big part of the painting, and the dripping paint has a bit of one to make it less flat.

To me, the painting means that art is not meant to stay within the frame. Art is not one dimensional, it is not simply a single thing, it reaches into the mind and evokes something. The brick background is not only a part of the painting's background, but it is the background of the entire piece. The oil painting comes to life by dripping out of the frame. Art is not confined, it is everywhere. I chose the fruit because it is the most stereotypical thing painters paint. I chose brick because I liked the texture. I chose the frame because I wanted to give the painting an air of importance.