Surrealist Erotica Series: #2 Dream of Venus // inspired by Salvador Dali

A still from Joan Pope's Surrealist Erotica film series.

Part 2 of the Surrealist Erotica Series by Joan Pope was inspired by Salvador Dali.

Like the first installment inspired by Man Ray, Dali produced an enormous amount of material, so there was a lot to work with.

The film opens with an ode to Dali's Dream of Venus installation at 1939 World's Fair.

Joan Pope in Surrealist Erotica

Joan Pope in Surrealist Erotica

Costume for Salvador Dalí's Dream of Venus photographed by Horst P. Horst

I've had some people who have seen the film ask, "What's with the lobsters?" This is an interesting blog post referencing a paper that examines Dali's lobster obsession. Lobsters appear in Dali's work in a few incarnations, probably most famously in his "Lobster Telephone." Dali's lobsters also inspired the Surrealist fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, with her "Lobster Dress" design.

Salvador Dali's Lobster Telephone

Woman's Dinner Dress designed by Elsa Schiaparelli collaboration with Salvador Dali

The next scene reference's Dali's “In Voluptas Mors” (“Voluptuous Death”). I projected the "skull" from the original photographed and I became the Dali figure.

Joan Pope

Joan Pope

Dali's In Voluptas Mors, photographed by Philippe Halsman. The link shows some behind the scenes photos of how the final image was created.

The next scene references one of Dali's most famous paintings, The Persistence of Memory. You know, "the one with the melting clocks." My interpretation was simple for this scene- I projected the painting onto my body and wore one of the clocks in my hair.

Joan Pope

Joan Pope

The Persistence of Memory of Salvador Dali

Dali's painting The Accommodations of Desire was the reference for the next scene. I cut out the pebbles from a print of the painting and fashioned them into a necklace.

Joan Pope

The Accommodations of Desire by Salvador Dali

The final scene of the Dali installment of the Surrealist Erotica series was more abstract. Instead of projecting, I overlaid flipping images of some of Dali's most recognizable paintings over black and white footage of me.

Joan Pope

I had so much to work with, I could probably do a second Dali inspired installment of the series. Maybe after I get the other artists I want to film done, I will include a bonus secondary Dali film.

Surrealist Erotica // from Joan Pope on Vimeo.

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