THE FETUS WHO PREFERS TO BE INDOORS - Surrealism Re-Interpretation + Sketches
The Fetus likes it inside
It's warm to the touch (as everything is)
It's free from the shouting and snipping and snooping
He's alone, but he's always been a bit of an introvert
I guess that's what you get for growing extended
The Fetus likes it cramped
Life is easier when you're confined
Though he doesn't have one, not really
He's still breathing from a fallopian artery
I guess it's a fair exchange for growing singularly
The Fetus likes it quiet
Silence is a blessing, though he never knew anything else
That's just what you say to pass the test
He read it in the manual
I guess it's better than the polyphonic mess outside
The Fetus likes it molecular
His world is a familiar photograph
Though claustrophobic at times, it's acceptable
The things he's heard from Gastrointestinal
I guess it's better than being a rejected individual
The Fetus likes it indoors
It's better than being restricted
Or suppressed by a force unabided
Or governed by biological conduct
He likes it here just fine
Note: Since the Surrealism history post I have since decided to explore abstract surrealism instead, since it fits the AIP2 theme better. Here are my sketches:
Click on image to enlarge.
I did take pictures of the process, but for some reason my memory card went awry and deleted everything. WOW. Imagine if that was to happen to a photography project.
Basic interpretation for artwork and poem:
In short, this artwork is really about feeling claustrophobic. The world is getting too crowded, both physically and mentally, and I tried to show it through contorting figures into the tight surface. On his thigh is a man with his arms raised---the image that The Fetus doesn't believe he'll ever become, and yet will.
As for the poem, the key is in its irony---the fetus believes it is better to stay inside the womb than to go outside because he thinks the outside world is too limiting, yet he doesn't realise that he's confined. "It's better than being restrictedOr suppressed by a force unabidedOr governed by biological conduct." I chose to depict the idea through a fetus because it symbolises naivety---the unborn, unseeing, untainted.