Before / After Thought — Surrealism Group Exhibition Opening Reception

Surrealism never settled its own argument: is the unconscious reached by letting go, or by building it on purpose? Before / After Thought puts seven painters in one room along exactly that spectrum. Robert Zurer, Anya Rosen and Amy Swartelé let the image surface out of the mark — automatic drawing, chalk pastel, chimeric beings. Claire Hashman, James Stamboni and Jim Radakovich engineer it instead — mirrored mandalas, old-master rendering on brass, a flying saucer over a very calm lake. Jocelyn Tsaih sits in the middle, in soft focus. Hung so the two methods have to answer to each other.Thursday, September 10 · 6–8 PM Collective Z, 325 Broome Street 1W (Lower East Side) Free — but please RSVP, the room is intimate. Wine, and the artists will be there. The exhibition runs through September 26. Curated by Alex Z. Wang.