The “Lets Talk Art” Series continued as Dillon Raborn gave a “Lecture on Max Ernst Collage Novels: The Alchemical Ressemblage of a New-World Mythology.”

The lecture took place at the Hammond Regional Art Center on Wednesday, April 29 at 5 p.m. with a larger crowd than expected. 

Raborn is a graduating senior majoring in art history. Raborn has been highlighted for his many achievements at the university. He is the recipient of the Holly and Smith architectural scholarship. He has also been accepted to two of the finest school for his graduate studies including Rutgers University in New Jersey and Stony Brooks University in New York. He has received awards for his work, one being an award from University of Texas in Tyler for an undergraduate art history symposium. 

“[Winning] is unusual because those are only offered to masters-level students and students with a Ph.D.,” said Raborn. “It was a treat to actually get to go, and I got the highest honors for best presentation. They also did an unofficial competition, and I got first.”

Associate Professor of Art History Irene Nero opened the lecture introducing Raborn and talking about all his achievements. 

Raborn highlighted four points and in the end tied them all into Ernst point. He highlighted Dadaism, which is a movement in art and literature based on deliberate irrationality and negation of traditional artistic values; surrealism, which is a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind; Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic Oedipus complex; and Alchemy, which is a secretive art up until the 21st century. He used an Ernst collage painting Aquis Submersus to explain the four highlighted points. He ended with the statement reflecting how Ernst saw his life as a chemical process: all is one. 

Raborn chose this topic because of a personal interest. 

“I chose the topic because Max Ernst stuck a chord with me personally, and I felt what he was going through because we both are coming from environments we want to break away from,” said Raborn. “The presentation is about his collage novels and how they are his expression of trying to put back together a world that had fallen apart because of the First World War. He did not normally do novels, he was a painter, but he did these specifically.” 

Raborn enjoyed the crowd’s attentiveness. 

“I really enjoyed the looks on people’s faces when I was explaining Sigmund Freud’s complex. That’s always funny because it’s outrageous,” said Raborn. 

The crowd also enjoyed Raborn’s lecture.

“The lecture was very interesting. This is my first one, and I was amazed at each point he gave, especially the way he tied it together in the end,” said Jaleah Robinson, sophomore biology major. “He did a great job explaining and making it interesting for a non art major like myself.” 

For more information on “Let Talk Art” series, visit the Department of Fine and Performing Arts calendar of events found on the university website.