The Surrealist movement seeks to bring out new perspectives of the world that are rooted in the imagination, the irrational, and the unconscious. One way that is achieved is through assemblages, or taking ordinary things and rearranging/pairing them in unexpected ways, which often produces uncanny feelings and discomfort. At first glance, assemblages appear familiar but also nonsensical because they deviate from established expectations, like the misspelled title. However, while these unexpected pairings have no established meaning, they present the world in a new way though which viewers can derive their own meanings and interpretations.

For example, Dora Maar's pairing of a shell with a human hand combines a hermit crab's shell with painted artificial human hand that creates an uncomfortable juxtaposition between the natural world and the manufactured human world. Similarly, Oppenheim combines eating utensils with animal fur, creating an unsettling feeling that connects the objects we use to eat with the part of the animal that we don't eat, pointing out that the food we eat comes from live animals and reminding us of the delicate boundary between what we eat and what we don't eat.

At the time of creating my assemblage, I didn't know what meaning I was trying to convey. It seemed like I was just putting different but similar objects together, possibly guided by unconscious associations. I was able to come up with interpretations of my creation as I was putting it together, but ultimately, the creation guided me rather than the other way around. By piecing together random objects in my room, I found new meaning in stuff I normally would not have looked twice at. I tried to encapsulate the process of creating art as described by the famous Surrealist painter, Salvador Dalí:

One possible interpretation of this assemblage is a criticism of modern commercialization. Humans have developed a reliance on so many different products, many of them claiming to moisturize or hydrate. By relying on these products, we deviate from the natural world and the most natural source of hydration - water.

The assemblage could also be criticizing Pepsi/fountain drinks and the way they are advertised as being refreshing, but are in reality filled with an unhealthy amount of sugar, which in a way, almost seems toxic and unnatural, as emphasized by the straw drawing from the inedible hand sanitizer.

Other interesting lenses/observations to consider are the juxtaposition between the moisturizing products with the Pepsi cup, the increase in size of the products from left to right, the red and blue colors, the cup/bottle caps under the lip balm/lotion, and the way the objects are connected.

Looking at the assemblage, you may come up with a completely different interpretation from mine (or it may be similar), but hopefully, it inspires you to view the world differently and find new meaning out of the ordinary.