AUGUST 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!

WHEN WE GO CRAZY OVER SOMETHING, WE DO SO WITH GUSTO. THIS MONTH, WE’VE GONE CUCKOO FOR CARDBOARD, THE STAR OF MANY AN OVERFLOWING TRASH DUMPSTER THAT IS, TO THE EYES AND IN THE HANDS OF SOME VERY INVENTIVE ARTISTS, A MATERIAL MORE PRECIOUS THAN TIFFANY JEWELS. IN THIS ISSUE, CHECK OUT OUR FEATURED ARTISTS’ CLEVER EXPERIMENTS WITH AND TIRELESS EXPLORATIONS OF THE SEDUCTIVE, CURIOUSLY VERSATILE CHARACTER OF CARDBOARD.

IN THIS ISSUE, DON'T MISS THESE FEATURES

Editor’s Letter

What the heck is brutjournal?
by Edward M. Gómez

Cardboard art, Part 2

We’re fascinated by the many inventive ways in which artists have been using cardboard to create paintings, sculptures, and other clever concoctions. Here, on the BIG PAGE, is the second part of Edward M. Gómez’s report, which starts on the HOME PAGE.

The French artist Michel Nedjar is a definitive creator of contemporary art brut. An exhibition at the Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland, examines his creatve trajectory. Interview with its curator, Anic Zanzi.

The French artist Michel Nedjar is a definitive creator of contemporary art brut. An exhibition at the Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland, examines his creatve trajectory. Interview with its curator, Anic Zanzi.

Ljubljana, Vienna, New York

Eva Petric works everywhere and, in her art, brings together her interests in scents, shadows, and human emotions. She has even created a “periodic table” of the emotions, in which feelings are represented by different kinds of shadows.

FOR THE LOVE OF CARDBOARD: MAKE ART, NOT TRASH

From paintings made on pizza boxes to a pillar honoring a 4th-century ascetic, along with works created with thick sheets an artist meticulously produces himself, we examine the seductive character of cardboard as a material for art-making. Edward M. Gómez reports. See more on the BIG PAGE.

GINA DECAGNA: “COLLECTING AND ASSEMBLING”

A London-based, American artist has been making quirky assemblage sculptures using cast-off cardboard boxes. Although her thinking is rooted in her study of conceptual art, Gina DeCagna’s work erupts with creative energy; it’s big, honest, clever, playful — and can joyously fill up much of a room.

ART IN NORTHERN ENGLAND: GO BOLD!

Cathy Ward, our London-based artist-correspondent, traveled to York, in northern England, to see two different exhibitions. Here is her photo survey of Educated Vandals, a show of street art held to raise money for a mental-health charity. It’s followed by her report about The Blacksmith’s Shop Gallery.

IN DENMARK, THE SECRETIVE ART OF SARAH

Who is the artist known simply as “Sarah,” who only began making art about three years ago? As Victoria Tischler reports, her psychologically intense paintings are “like nightmarish fairy tales that combine flora, fauna, a young female interlocutor, and symbols of threat and trauma.”

COUR D’BLAX-NEECK: CARDBOARD AND INKBLOTS

Cour d’Blax-Neeck uses paint on repurposed cardboard to make inkblot images. He allows his materials to “reveal mythological characters” in the colorful, abstract passages created by the folds he makes in his cardboard. The artist places H-shaped structures in his compositions, too.

DARKNESS INTO LIGHT: THE ART OF MICHEL NEDJAR

A definitive creator of art brut, the French artist Michel Nedjar makes mixed-media dolls, paintings, and works on paper whose spirit emerges from the depths of the psyche. An exhibition at the Collection de l’Art Brut in Switzerland focuses on his long career. A chat with curator Aniz Zanzi.