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!

WINTER PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN EARTH’S OPERATING SYSTEM. STILL, MAMA NATURE, WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SO DAMNED COLD? ALAS, THANKS TO THE DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS OF HUMAN-PROVOKED CLIMATE CHANGE, EARTH’S COLD SPOTS ARE NO LONGER A COLD AS THEY SHOULD BE. WE DON’T MEAN TO GIVE OL’ MAN WINTER THE COLD SHOULDER, BUT IT SURE WILL BE EXCITING WHEN SPRING STARTS COMING INTO VIEW. FOR NOW, BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE — BUT INSIDE, WHERE WE’RE MAKING ART AND MUSIC, AND COOKING UP BIG IDEAS, IT’S GETTING HOTTER ALL THE TIME.

IN THIS ISSUE, DON'T MISS THESE FEATURES
Editor’s Letter
What the heck is brutjournal?
by Edward M. Gómez
Documents of the avant-garde
In the 1960s, the Fluxus-related artist, composer, and writer Dick Higgins founded Something Else Press, which, through 1974, published many seminal, experimental writings by artists and visionaries. Now, Primary Information has issued an anthology, A Something Else Reader.
by Sarah Fensom
Winter in the brush
The Taiwan-based, American artist Michael Newman shares his musings about making paintings inspired by a season in East Asia whose character he is still getting to know; it differs from the Seattle winters he left behind.
What’s in a frame?
We take a look at the Swiss art historian and curator Michel Thévoz’s analysis of the use by art brut creators of clever framing techniques within their diverse compositions.
by Edward M. Gómez
OUR WINTER ENCOUNTER: BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE
It’s here. It’s inevitable. It’s winter, and in many places, it’s cold, dark, and dreary. It’s also beautiful, as, in some regions, nature transforms the surface of the Earth into an elegant-eerie pageant of snow and ice. Some ruminations on creativity and the cold... Free-access article.
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OUTSIDER ART: DEALERS WEIGH IN ON COLLECTING, “CROSS-OVER,” AND CATEGORY LABELS
On the occasion of the Outsider Art Fair, some of the fair’s experienced purveyors of self-taught artists’ works, most of whom are collectors themselves, share their analyses of current trends in the market, along with tips for new collectors in the field. Free-access article.
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DANIELLE JACQUI: IN SWITZERLAND, AN ART BRUT CREATOR’S GRAND, NEW MONUMENT
The French artist Danielle Jacqui recently inaugurated a new sculpture project near Lausanne. brutjournal was there, capturing in photos the grand-opening event and the colorful, rich surface textures of Jacqui’s towers, which are covered in thousands of handcrafted tiles.
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2023 OUTSIDER ART FAIR NEW YORK PREVIEW
OAF is outsider art’s biggest event, attracting dealers, collectors, artists, curators, and aficionados from around the world. Edward M. Gómez’s exclusive, annual OAF preview has the inside scoop on what to look out for at this year’s fair. Free-access article.
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ATMOSPHERES: WHAT’S IN A RECORD STORE?
brutjournal contributor David Ensminger is a Texas-based photographer and cultural historian who travels throughout the American South. In his latest photo portfolio, he captures the spirit of independent record stores, each of which he regards as a “cornucopia of cool.”
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ISSEI NISHIMURA: AN UNSINKABLE NEED TO PAINT
This month, we catch up with the reclusive Japanese artist Issei Nishimura on the occasion of his latest gallery exhibition, in Nagoya. Like many artists, he has emerged from a pandemic-related slowdown. Now, again, his paint-flinging can’t be stopped. Free-access.
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