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.

“I WANT TO REMIND US ALL THAT ART IS DANGEROUS. I WANT TO REMIND YOU OF THE HISTORY OF ARTISTS WHO HAVE BEEN MURDERED, SLAUGHTERED, IMPRISONED, CHOPPED UP, REFUSED ENTRANCE. […] DICTATORS AND PEOPLE IN OFFICE, AND PEOPLE WHO WANT TO CONTROL AND DECEIVE KNOW EXACTLY THE PEOPLE WHO WILL DISTURB THEIR PLANS, AND THOSE PEOPLE ARE ARTISTS. THEY’RE THE ONES WHO TELL THE TRUTH.” — The writer TONI MORRISON (1931-2019) speaking at the "Art and Social Justice" panel presented by the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, New York City, June 17, 2016. (Video available on YouTube; see the Stella Adler Studio of Acting’s channel.)

RECENT FEATURES

**ROB OBER: NO IDEOLOGY, PLEASE. THIS ART IS REAL.
“I am suspicious of art informed or directed by ideas or any ideology,” the American artist Rob Ober says. Keeping it real, authentic, shot through with a real pulse, and wildly colorful, Ober’s work feels irresistibly spontaneous and fresh. See. React. Paint. Here, the artist, who grew up all over the place, shares some thoughts about his art. Note to self: We’re in love with those gators. Click here to see article.
**JAMAICAN INTUITIVES: IT’S RAS DIZZY’S WORLD
Ras Dizzy (circa 1932-2008) was one of the most important of the Jamaican Intuitives, a group of self-taught artists whose works began to earn recognition in Jamaica in the late 1970s and notably contributed to shaping a sense of the postcolonial, independent island country’s national cultural identity. A selection of Dizzy’s works from a unique private collection. Click here to see article.
**A BIG, BOLD NEW BOOK: FRANÇOIS JAUVION’S TRIBUTE TO ART BRUT AND OUTSIDER ART MASTERS
In 2020, the French artist François Jauvion’s large-format book L’imagier singulier was published. It featured his own illustrations and texts by various specialists about the lives and accomplishments of numerous art brut and outsider artists. Now, a second volume of Jauvion’s big opus is here. See our overview of L’imagier singulier, Tome 2. Click here to see article.
**ARTIST CATHY WARD: IN LONDON, THE PSYCHIC, SOULFUL MESSAGES OF “THE ORACLES”
Like many art-makers, what with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic period and other concerns, the London-based artist Cathy Ward, who works in various media and genres, has wrestled with numerous, big challenges. Recently, as if purging the negative energy surrounding her, Ward sat down in a corner of her home to create a series of bold, mystical paintings. “They allowed me to reset myself,” she says. See a portfolio of these powerful new pictures. Click here to see article.
**PHOTOGRAPHER JOEL SIMPSON: CAPTURING NATURE’S BIZARRE CREATIVE SPIRIT — AND POWER
The photographer Joel Simpson travels widely in search of unusual natural rock formations and strange textures in the surface of the earth. Here, a selection of new photos from Simpson’s latest expeditions to the Southwest of the U.S.A. illustrates a theoretical approach he has developed to appreciating such striking images. As he notes, it leads viewers “from traditional landscape through abstraction, figuration, and finally to fiction." Click here to see article.
**OFF THE WALL: NEW YORK CITY STREET POETS AND VISIONARIES, THE KENNETH GOLDSMITH COLLECTION
In the 1980s, Kenneth Goldsmith, a poet and university professor, began tearing off anonymously made, handwritten ads, religious-themed proclamations, and oddball declarations that he found posted on walls and lampposts on the streets of New York City. A bemusing selection of such bizarre “poetry” was recently shown at Andrew Edlin Gallery. Click here to see article.
**GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: EMMANUEL HERZ’S JELLYFISH INVASION
Earlier this year, at the café/restaurant Remor in Geneva, Switzerland, we stumbled upon a stunning display of Emmanuel Herz’s festive “Fascinantes Méduses” (“Fascinating Jellyfish”), a group of sculptures and paintings that had taken over the old joint’s ceiling lamps and walls. We were smitten — and maybe also bitten. See out photo-filled report. Click here to see 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.

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“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.

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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.

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EXHIBITION: SHORT STORIES MEET ART IN “COLLABORATION”
In an exhibition now being presented by the Wayne County Arts Alliance in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, local artists have interpreted original short tales written by members of a storytellers’ collective that is also based in the region. We look at the jazz pianist and story writer Kazzrie Jaxen’s “Alfred,” which concerns a certain big bug, and at the works that were created to depict it.

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A NEW YORK EXHIBITION DEBUT: SUDDENLY, IT’S JOEY!
In his first-ever solo exhibition anywhere, at Hal Bromm Gallery in New York, the Pennsylvania-based artist Joey Tepedino is presenting a selection of his exuberant paintings. Creating his wildly energetic pictures, he says, allows him to “burst through” feelings of anxiety so that he may “experience everything all at once.” They certainly do feel intense. Our interview with Tepedino, along with photos of his works and of his zine-like artist’s book.

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