APRIL 2023 – 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!

IN OUR REPORTS ABOUT THE JAPANESE ARTIST ISSEI NISHIMURA’S WILDLY EXPRESSIONISTIC PAINTINGS (SEE brutjournal, FEB-MAR 2023), WE’VE DESCRIBED HIS OBSESSIVE DEVOTION TO DRAWING AND MAKING ART, OFTEN INSPIRED BY HIS LOVE OF BLUES MUSIC. NOW, JAPAN’S NHK WORLD TELEVISION SERVICE IS PRESENTING FILMMAKER ISE TOMOYA’S FIRST-EVER DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE RECLUSIVE ARTIST AND HIS PRIVATE WORLD OF MUSIC, ART, AND CATS. VIEW IT HERE, FREE OF CHARGE, WHILE IT’S STILL AVAILABLE. PAINT!

IN THIS ISSUE, DON'T MISS THESE FEATURES

Editor’s Letter

What the heck is brutjournal?
by Edward M. Gómez

DISCOVERIES: Excerpts from a grand, ambitious series of free-form poems by the Scottish, Tokyo-based writer known as “Al Ningen” richly capture many different aspects of the character and ambiance of one of the world’s great metropolises.

DISCOVERIES: The emergence of the work of the late Shirley Cohen, who died in 2019 when she was in her nineties, reveals a strange oeuvre — paintings and murals from the hand of a self-taught artist who assimilated various aspects of modernism and used them to express a deeply personal, philosophical vision.
by Edward M. Gómez

From the artist’s studio

Contributing photographer and artist Steven Hirsch created a series of paintings that caught a sight he saw in an upstate New York town, a dramatic scene staged by Mama Nature that became, for this keen observer, an indelible symbol of the atmosphere in a particular place.

EXPLORATIONS. DISCOVERIES. A SENSE OF PLACE.

This month, we have the notion of a sense of place in mind as we poke around looking for — and, as always, enthusiastically and inquisitively at — art, art, art and the artists’ ideas that shape their creations. What does it mean to have and to be inspired by a sense of place? What does it mean to create something fresh and original? Just askin’— and savoring what we find in response to such questions. Free-access article.

STEVEN HIRSCH: A SENSE OF PLACE AND SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT

For New York’s tabloids, brutjournal photographer and artist Steven Hirsch snaps photos of law-breakers at Manhattan’s criminal courts. Sometimes he visits other places, as when he headed to far upstate New York, where he saw a sight that inspired a place-commemorating series of paintings. Free-access article.

AMANDA MIEHLE: A TEENAGE ARTIST STEPS OUT

We catch up with a young artist based in rural Pennsylvania whose work was first featured in brutjournal’s inaugural issue in 2021. As Amanda Miehle continues developing some signature motifs, her work is now being presented in a first-ever gallery exhibition.

CITY RAMBLER AL NINGEN’S “TOKYO FURUSATO”

The Tokyo-based Scotsman known as “Al Ningen” has been composing an epic-length series of free-verse billets-doux capturing the moods, spirit, and irresistibly quirky charms of his adopted home. An exclusive preview of three poems from a big, new, ambitious work.

DONNA SHARRETT: MEDITATIONS ON NATURE, MEMORY, AND THE TOUCH OF THE ARTIST’S HAND

Based in the Hudson Valley, north of New York City, Donna Sharrett has used embroidery, antique fabrics, and cast-off materials to create commemorative works exploring a sense of memory, especially of places in the heart. Here, she presents her newest works.

SHIRLEY COHEN: COLOR, HOPE, AND IDEALISM

The self-taught artist Shirley Cohen, who died in 2019, in her nineties, created abstract and semi-abstract paintings, murals, and experimental works on glass. Informed by the progressivism of the FDR era, her soulful art conveys joy and optimism through bold gestures.