by Edward M. Gómez Art lovers, dealers, and other specialists who are involved in the overlapping fields of art brut and outsider art love nothing more than the discovery of a highly original, technically inventive, visionary art-maker somewhere on the margins of mainstream society who is making or who, if deceased, produced and left behind paintings, drawings, sculptures, or other creations that are strange and compelling. If such a figure emerges with a colorful back story, so much the better. These fields have long placed a considerable emphasis on artists’ biographies, often at the expense of deeper critical assessments of the technical, historical, or other aspects of such artists’ oeuvres. Recently, in the southwestern, French-speaking part of Switzerland, where researchers and collectors have long played important roles in the art brut field, the works of the hitherto unknown, self-taught artist “E.B.” were recently discovered in her family’s unoccupied, former house. Now, brutjournal brings you the exclusive story of this unusual find.

Founded by the Israeli-British curator Shai Ohayon, The Container is one of the most vital outposts for experimental and conceptual art on Tokyo’s lively contemporary-art scene. Housed within a replica of an actual, standard, half-length shipping container, the gallery is lodged in a space shared with Bross Tokyo, a cutting-edge hair salon in a stylish city that takes the art of creative coiffure seriously. Now on view at The Container: Soshi Mastunobe’s positive slides made from and mixed up with photographic negatives. Intriguing...