Hastings Surrealism Fails To Fly
Dear Sirs (and all those who do not thus identify),
It is with some regret that I have to announce that the inaugural meeting of the Hastings Pre-Post Surrealism Movement was not a great success. In short, no-one attended. This may, in part, be due to the fact that neither notice nor invitations were actually sent out. The founder member of the Movement (myself) debated long and hard on this issue. Would not an actual meeting amount to something real? And, if so, how could it then possibly be considered surreal? And if not surreal, how could it possibly be the basis for our assemblage? The questions seemed unanswerable and, indeed, led to a severe over-heating of the brain, assuaged only by liberal doses of a particularly peaty single malt.
The second problem is that the Movement has no members (except for the aforementioned founder). The admission criteria are, it is accepted, onerous. At least one work has to be submitted electronically along with, and I quote ‘a stamped self-addressed envelope for its return’. This has clearly proved a stumbling block for many, except perhaps for the redoubtable Mr Tony Howard. He had the temerity to shower the organiser with dozens of his questionable pictures (see HIP issue 210, 23 September), and then to deliver, possibly by hand, his SSA-envelope to the registered office of this august journal. The membership committee debated the legitimacy of this move for some time – or at least until the bottle was empty – without coming to any concrete, or other, conclusion.
Tony Howard’s Zebra Crossing; Mr Howard – Zebra in a Topper?; Mr Howard’s Zebra Lost in Lingerie
It was therefore decided (nem. con. naturally) that the question of his admission should be determined by a vote of readers of this paper. To remind you of his suitability – or not – we reproduce here some of his latest work along with his hand-written artist’s statement. Instructions on how to vote will be found at the foot of the page.
Faithfully yours,
Ba Kode
Honorary Factotum the Hastings Pre-Post Surrealism Movement
• To vote on Mr Howard’s admission to the Hastings Pre-Post Surrealism Movement, please email [email protected] with the words “AYE” or NAY” in the subject line.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply