Alongside Lyrical Abstract painters in France, the Automatistes favoured a fluid, painterly technique over the comparatively reserved, hard-edge abstraction so popular in the U.S. and Eastern Europe at the time. Much like a nonobjective Group of Seven, they were looking to create a distinctively Canadian artistic identity. Heavily influenced by Surrealist manifestos and poetry, their work was largely stream-of-consciousness inspired, believing this to be a truer means of communicating subconscious emotions and sensory experiences; they wanted to be liberated from intention, reason, and any kind of structure, in order to communicate a universal human experience without bias. This resulted in increasingly crude or intuitive methods such as applying paint with palette knives and fingers and painting blindfolded, their efforts contradicting their claims of working without intention.
Alongside Lyrical Abstract painters in France the Automatistes favoured a fluid painterly technique over the comparatively reserved hard-edge abstraction so popular in the US and Eastern Europe at the time Much like a nonobjective Group of Seven they were looking to create a distinctively Canadian artistic identity Heavily influenced by Surrealist manifestos and poetry their work was largely stream-of-consciousness inspired believing this to be a truer means of communicating subconscious emotions and sensory experiences; they wanted to be liberated from intention reason and any kind of structure in order to communicate a universal human experience without bias This resulted in increasingly crude or intuitive methods such as applying paint with palette knives and fingers and painting blindfolded their efforts contradicting their claims of working without intention