Entopic Graphomania 1945

Dolfi Trost made this drawing, titled 'Entopic Graphomania' with ink on paper at an unknown date. It’s a fascinating example of how art can challenge our understanding of creativity and the artist's role. Trost was a Romanian avant-garde artist associated with Surrealism, a movement that questioned the established art world, and the conservative values it seemed to uphold. His work rejected the idea of the artist as a skilled craftsman, instead of embracing chance and automatism. 'Entopic Graphomania' exemplifies this. It's a process where dots are made at the sites of impurities in a blank sheet of paper and lines are then automatically and randomly drawn between these points. In this way, Trost relinquishes control to the subconscious and the accidental, questioning traditional notions of artistic intention. By examining Surrealist manifestos, social histories of the avant-garde, and institutional records of art exhibitions, we can better understand how Trost's drawing challenged the art establishment of his time. It reminds us that the meaning of art is always shaped by its social context.