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.
TODAY’S EYE ART

This month, brutjournal celebrates the optical with a big portfolio of eye-themed art. Above: Unknown artist from the U.S. Midwest, “Last Judgment,” mid-20th century; oil; enamel on wood, 17 x 11 in (43 x 28 cm). Photo: Steven S. Powers/Joshua Lowenfels Works of Art & Americana. See the article on the home page for more beautiful eyes.
RON’S PLACE: A VISITOR SURVEYS THE SCENE

The phenomenon of self-taught artists’ art environments — houses, gardens, or other architectural or outdoor spaces constructed and filled with their own creations, often over periods of many years and almost always for deeply personal reasons — is one of the most intriguing in the annals of any place’s cultural history. Cathy Ward was moved and puzzled by what she found when she visited Ron’s Place in northwestern England. Here is her firsthand report. Free access to this article.
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EXCLUSIVE ART PORTFOLIO: THE EYES HAVE IT!

This month, all eyes are on works of art featuring eyes and eyeballs as prominent motifs in their compositions. A wide range of artists have shared their eye-catching creations with us, from paintings whose ocular subjects stare out probingly at their viewers to odd folk art offering eyefuls of quirky charm. On the BIG PAGE, see, too, collector John Foster’s selections of eye-filled art. Hands down and shoulder to shoulder, the eyes have it!
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RON’S PLACE: AN INTERVIEW WITH JAN WILLIAMS

Ron Gittins (1937-2019) was an eccentric self-taught artist who lived in a semi-detached, Victorian-era house in Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, not far from Liverpool. He filled it with frescoes, papier-mâché sculptures, and many odd knickknacks. Now, his niece, Jan Williams, and her collaborators are trying to preserve this art environment for posterity. Cathy Ward interviewed her for brutjournal about this ambitious project.
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LUCIENNE PEIRY, EXCLUSIVE BOOK EXCERPTS: ART BRUT WRITINGS, EXTRAVAGANT GRAPHOMANIACS

The Swiss art historian and curator Lucienne Peiry’s latest big, insightful, illuminating book examines art brut creators who integrated real or imaginary writing into their distinctive compositions in various media. It serves as the basis of a new exhibition opening on October 20 at the Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switzerland. Now, read excerpts from the book in English — a brutjournal exclusive. Free access to this article.
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