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.
TATTOOED IN TOKYO, WHERE YOUNG, DARING DOMINIC SHOWS SOME SKIN
In the Japanese capital, a young, tall, athletic, bagpipe-playing teacher from Scotland has been enthusiastically had tattoos added to his growing collection by local artists. It's still somewhat daring to display tattooed skin in Japan. Dominic Skelton shares his story. Free access to this article.

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BACK TO THE APOCALYPSE WITH THE LATE, MEMORABLE NORBERT KOX
On the occasion of a recent retrospective exhibition of his work, the artist Cathy Ward recalls the time she spent with the Wisconsin-based, American painter Norbert Kox (1945-2018), a portrayer of foreboding visions.

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TATTOO TEXAS: DAVID ENSMINGER'S PHOTOS FROM THE MUSIC SCENE
Over the years, the writer, folklorist, musician, and educator David Ensminger, who is based in Houston, has photographed many of the punk and rock bands that have performed in that large Texas city. For many of them, tattoos — lots of ’em, the more visible, the better — have served as urban-tribe badges of honor. Here, Ensminger shares his photo portfolio and notes.

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VICKI BENNETT/PEOPLE LIKE US: EXPANSIVE CINEMA AND BEYOND
With Gone, Gone, Beyond, an immersive work of “expansive cinema,” People Like Us (the British artist Bennett and collaborator Peter Knight) have concocted a sensory tour de force of movie-viewing in the round — or, more precisely, in the square, for the new film is shown in a specially designed, rectangular chamber equipped with large, wide screens covering all four of its walls. Bennett speaks with brutjournal about her latest project.

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OH, CANADA! IT'S MENNO KRANT
Born in 1950, Menno Krant is a self-taught Canadian artist whose bold, semi-abstract paintings evoke the underlying anguish that is a fundamental aspect of the human condition. From her base in Vancouver, Linda Rainaldi has been researching the lives and creative careers of her country’s outsider and self-taught artists. Here, she examines Krant’s potent imagery.

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