Simply Surreal

How close can the photo lens come to capturing what the eye can see? Can a photo lie, despite showing only the truthful objects in front of the lens? The fascinating exhibit Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography opens today at the Cleveland Museum of Art. A collection meticulously assembled by art collector and filmmaker David Raymond throughout the 1990s, it consists of 167 photographs and illustrations created during the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s that attempt to “reflect the eye in its wild state.” In other words, these pieces are some of the first and most quintessential works from the surrealist movement, playing with texture, odd angles and perspectives, and exploring the random and irrational through the Freudian unconscious. Some pieces are snapshots into history while others are just downright bizarre, yet they are all tied together through the common lens of surrealism. Admission is free, and the exhibit runs through Jan. 11, 2015. (Trenholme)