OCTOBER 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!

AUTUMN IS HERE, AND AS MUCH AS THE CHANGE OF SEASONS PROVIDES A REMINDER OF THE MEANING OF CONTINUITY, FORWARD-MOVING HISTORY, AND SURVIVAL, IN MANY PLACES AND IN MANY HEARTS THERE ARE FEELINGS OF EXHAUSTION, ANXIETY, CONSTERNATION, AND UNCERTAINTY. IS THE WORLD FALLING APART, OR WILL HUMANITY’S INGENUITY AND UNSINKABLE PLUCK SAVE US ALL IN THE FACE OF DAUNTING CHALLENGES? AGAINST THIS BACKDROP, THIS MONTH, DOZENS OF ARTISTS AND CREATIVE TYPES ANSWER THE QUESTION, “WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?” SOME ARE TURNING INWARD. OTHERS ARE TAKING BIG-PICTURE VIEWS. ONE THING’S FOR SURE: THEY ALL HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY. (PHOTO: THE ARTIST MISTER WIM’S GLOWING BALL NEAR THE BASE OF MT. FUJI, IN JAPAN — BECAUSE,WHY NOT?)

Editor’s Letter

What the heck is brutjournal?
by Edward M. Gómez

Unexpected finds

Artist-photographer Steven Hirsch discovered a pile of old, cast-off linoleum. He fell in love with it — despite its awful odor — and savored the memories it provoked.

The artist Joey Tepedino is presenting a selection of his energetic, exuberant paintings in his debut exhibition at a commercial gallery in New York. Creating his boldly colored pictures, he says, allows him to “burst through” feelings of anxiety so that he may “experience everything all at once.”

Photomachinées, a first-ever exhibition of vernacular photography at the Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, showcased many decades of picture-making by anonymous shutterbugs and manipulators of photo images.

THIS MONTH, WE ASKED, AND YOU ANSWERED: “HERE’S WHAT’S ON MY MIND.”

Along with political instability, environmental pollution, global climate change, destructive wars, and corruption and injustice in every form, the world is still full of the positive, productive thinking and activity of countless artists and inventive types of all stripes. Now, some of them share some observations about what’s on their minds, from the health of the planet to the subjects of their latest creations. Free-access article.

“WHAT’S ON MY MIND,” PART ONE

In a first batch of “On my mind” observations, we hear from a diverse group of art-makers who share their concerns and comments about the planet’s natural resources, the power of memory, “the political craziness of our government and the Russians’ bombing of Ukraine” (Stephanie Brody-Lederman), and the role of the artist. Free-access article.

“WHAT’S ON MY MIND,” PART TWO

More artists and thinkers weigh in with comments about what’s on their minds right now, from the fate of the Earth and the value of human relationships to just what creating and caring for their art has come to mean to them. Some of them have been deeply inspired by different aspects of nature and their surroundings. Free-access article.

“WHAT’S ON MY MIND,” PART THREE

In this selection of “On my mind” comments, another group of artists and activists cite humanitarian efforts to aid victims of Russia’s devastating attacks against Ukraine, the sometimes pesky but necessary presence of high-tech gizmos in our lives, and art-making as a powerful antidote to the dispiriting conditions of our times. Free-access article.

“WHAT’S ON MY MIND,” PART FOUR

Optimism or hope flows through the remarks of several artists in this group of “On my mind” commentators. For some, like the Jamaican artist Laura Facey, creating art is a way “to make some sense of things.” For the artist-psychiatrist Steven Rudin, art serves “as a rehearsal that prepares us to take on challenges outside the studio.” Free-access article

FLOORED BY THE BEAUTY OF STINKY, OLD LINOLEUM

A few weeks ago, the New York-based artist and photographer Steven Hirsch stumbled upon a pile of building-renovation trash and was delighted by a treasure trove of old and very smelly linoleum floor-covering shards that were lying in it. The discovery triggered his Proustian recollections of a material with which he had grown up — and now bedazzled him. A photo essay.