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 “SPIRIT PHOTO,” REIMAGINED

Finding inspiration in experimental — and dubiously convincing — “spirit photos” of the late 19th century and early 20th century of the kind John Foster presents elsewhere in this issue, our visual director, Bill Westmoreland, employs blurring techniques as he conjures up some vivid spirit images for our time. Free access to this article.
Read more
MONICA SJÖÖ: THE TIME IS NOW!

The Swedish-born artist Monica Sjöö (1938-2005) spent much of her life in England, where she developed a body of art and writings that expressed her interests in women’s rights, the environment, feminism, and humanity’s relationship with nature. brutjournal’s artist-correspondent Cathy Ward reports about a rare exhibition of Sjöö’s paintings in London.
Read more
THE WRITING’S ON THE WALL

Images from a conflict zone: The British artist J.P. Lux has visited the Israeli-controlled West Bank many times and is writing a book about the street artist Banksy’s involvement with that occupied territory. Here, he shares a report about and vivid photos from his latest trip, focusing on public Palestinian protest art. Lux notes that it “has become a visible tool of resistance.”
Read more
CAPTURING THE ANCIENT SPIRIT IN ART AND PHOTOS

In an exclusive photo essay, brutjournal’s visual director, photographer Bill Westmoreland, aims his camera at the Jamaican self-taught artist Vincent Atherton’s soulful sculptures. With comments from the art dealer/collector Randall Morris. Free-access article. Go get it!
Read more
THE DEEP TRUTHS OF BONEWOMAN, SPIRIT PAINTER

Based in California, the artist Reda Rackley, a.k.a. “Bonewoman,” makes paintings that evoke a sense of her ancestors and a broader recognition of history and spirituality, and of such mythic figures as witches, crones, and druids. She speaks with Gray Campbell about art — and deep soul.
Read more
Advertisement

Advertisement
