AUGUST 2022 – brutjournal

THIS IS THE PLACE FOR DISCOVERIES AND DISCUSSIONS OF THE MOST INVENTIVE ART FORMS – ALL KINDS OF ART THAT IS FAR-OUT, FANTASTIC, FREE-SPIRITED, FUN, FUNKY, PHENOMENAL AND GOOD FOR THE SOUL. (MAMA CALLED IT SUI GENERIS)
SUBSCRIBE, BABY. RIGHT NOW!

THIS IS THE PLACE FOR DISCOVERIES AND DISCUSSIONS OF THE MOST INVENTIVE ART FORMS – ALL KINDS OF ART THAT IS FAR-OUT, FANTASTIC, FREE-SPIRITED, FUN, FUNKY, PHENOMENAL AND GOOD FOR THE SOUL. (MAMA CALLED IT SUI GENERIS)
SUBSCRIBE, BABY. RIGHT NOW!

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS, BUT THE FIRST PHOTOS TAKEN BY THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE, RELEASED LAST MONTH BY NASA, ARE WORTH THOUSANDS OF GALAXIES. CAPTURING LIGHT THAT BEGAN TRAVELING BILLIONS OF YEARS AGO, THESE IMAGES OF THE DISTANT UNIVERSE ARE NOTHING IF NOT AWE-INSPIRING — AND SPIRIT-STIRRING, TOO, AS THEY EVOKE UNSEEN, UNFATHOMABLE FORCES FAR BIGGER THAN US LITTLE HUMANS ON OUR FUNKY, TROUBLED PLANET.

Editor’s Letter

What the heck is brutjournal?
By Edward M. Gómez

Palestinian West Bank

The British artist J.P. Lux’s photo-filled report about the use of public art — painted murals and graffiti — to express resistance to the Israeli occupation

A rare showing of the paintings of the Swedish-born, pioneering eco-feminist and earthy-spiritualist artist Monica Sjöö
Cathy Ward reports

In the “other” world

brutjournal’s visual director, the photographer Bill Westmoreland, reimagines the 19th-century “spirit photo”: an exclusive portfolio

ART TO NOURISH THE SPIRIT — AND STIR THE SOUL

FREE ACCESS TO THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO GO GET IT!

THE BOX: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022

FUMIO SHIOZAWA: BUDDHIST ART, REIMAGINED

In Japan, the artist Fumio Shiozawa, inspired by the iconography of Buddhist art, has created new images for our time that evoke the spirit — and the spiritual character and teachings — of an ancient worldview. His art is bold and divinely colorful.

“SPIRIT PHOTOS”: THE CAMERA AS CLEVER CONJURER

John Foster, the St. Louis-based graphic designer and longtime collector of outsider art and vernacular photography — found images made by unknown creators — shares some rare, vintage “spirit photos” from his treasure trove. They’re inventive, odd, and delightfully spooky.

ANGELA ROGERS: FROM THE TAROT TO THE “POPPET”

The artist Angela Rogers has made several one-of-a-kind sets of tarot cards and is intrigued by the mythic powers associated with the main characters who appear in the centuries-old diviner’s deck. She has interpeted them as three-dimensional sculptural figures, too.

ARTIST JUDITH McNICOL: FLYING TOWARD THE LIGHT

Judith McNicol ran an artist collective’s gallery, went on expeditions as a geologist, and became a neurosomatic therapist, but her most far-reaching journey, through art, has been to the depths of the psyche. From London, Cathy Ward reports. Free-access article.

THE DEEP TRUTHS OF BONEWOMAN, SPIRIT PAINTER

Based in California, the artist Reda Rackley, a.k.a. “Bonewoman,” makes paintings that evoke a sense of her ancestors and a broader recognition of history and spirituality, and of such mythic figures as witches, crones, and druids. She speaks with Gray Campbell about art — and deep soul.

CAPTURING THE ANCIENT SPIRIT IN ART AND PHOTOS

In an exclusive photo essay, brutjournal’s visual director, photographer Bill Westmoreland, aims his camera at the Jamaican self-taught artist Vincent Atherton’s soulful sculptures. With comments from the art dealer/collector Randall Morris. Free-access article. Go get it!

SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY: A BRIEF HISTORY THROUGH THE PARANORMAL BELIEVER’S LENS

Cultural historian and brutjournal contributor Daniel Wojcik, a specialist in folklore, mythology, and religious culture, looks at the evolution of so-called spirit photography and the 19th-century ideas and beliefs that influenced it. Holy ectoplasm!