Pop surrealism is popular with some of the Planet Books staff (especially with myself) and books by current pop surrealists have always been steady sellers. Artists like Todd Schorr, Robert Williams, Mark Ryden, Joe Coleman, Josh Agle (SHAG) and Camille Rose Garcia have been leading lights in the lowbrow art movement. But these artists are all too aware that they owe a great deal to the original surrealists. Not just the greats of the past like Max Ernst, René Magritte and naturally, Salvador Dalí, but some of the current masters. Well, the few that are remaining. And now there's one less. Australia's leading surrealist James Gleeson had exhibited his work for the last 70 years. I've seen some of them myself in Sydney and Canberra; rich in colour and beautifully disturbing with images of modern technology and classic myths, and often the odd bit of limb or internal organ hanging about somewhere. His works will endure as we say farewell to the father of Australian surrealism.
James Gleeson 21 November 1915 - 20 October 2008
I only recently became familiar with Gleesons work, but I liked it a great deal. It had a sense of texture and artistry rare in the surrealist artists.