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.
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.
THE SECRETIVE ART OF SARAH
Who is the self-taught artist with ties to France, Denmark, and Sweden who is known simply as “Sarah”? As Victoria Tischler reports, she only began making art about three years ago, creating “paintings [that] are like nightmarish fairy tales that combine flora, fauna, a young female interlocutor, and symbols of threat and trauma.” They’re psychologically and emotionally intense.
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FOR THE LOVE OF CARDBOARD, Part 2: MORE ARTISTS, MORE BIG IDEAS
Our look at corrugated cardboard’s unexpected flexibility as a raw material for making art continues with the presentation of works by another group of inventive artists who regularly make use of the stuff — for paintings, sculptures, and more. Edward M. Gómez reports. Free-access article.
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MAARTEN SLOF & SAM WILSON FLETCHER’S “PILLAR MISTER”: THINKING BIG WITH CARDBOARD
The Dutch artist Maarten Slof and his British-Irish collaborator Sam Wilson Fletcher have created a 16-foot-high cardboard structure evoking the story of Simeon Stylites, a Syrian Christian ascetic of the 4th century who lived atop a small platform mounted on a pillar. Their art is on view in the Netherlands.
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NEW ZEALAND’S STUART SHEPHERD: GETTING AWAY FOR A PURPOSE, TO REIGNITE A CREATIVE SPARK
The artist Stuart Shepherd, a New Zealander who lives in a coastal town south of Auckland, is a former art teacher and an avid researcher-collector in his country’s outsider art field. Recently, an extended stay in faraway Iowa, in the U.S.A., jump-started his creative mojo. Shepherd returned home with a batch of new paintings and ceramics — and a deep appreciation for the value of a good getaway.
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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.
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