I think I am "ART BRUT"

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I think I am "ART BRUT" - 6/5/2009 10:23:28 PM

KingDavid

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As complicated as it can be to create abstract art, it is often more complicated to define what you do in words. In an attempt to pinpoint a reason or explanation for doing what I do, I began googling art terms & came across "art brut". This detailed & fascinating definition by the people at MoMa has many fragmented pieces to my puzzle. It may not complete it, but there were many things that jumped out at me. I think I am onto something here:
http://12.172.4.131/collection/details.php?theme_id=10053&texttype=2

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RE: I think I am "ART BRUT" - 6/6/2009 11:56:22 PM

toucanne

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There's a gallery in Paris that I visited ast year and just loved. It has great exhibition space, a coffee shop and a library to die for, all in an awesome old market building. I will try to go again this year. It specializes in Art Brut, or Outsider Art. Some of the art is jarring, but it has a way of sucking you in. The colors, inventiveness and child-like creativity are just wonderful.
Look here: www.hallesaintpierre.org/index.php?page=expos
If you don't speak French, you can still look at the work. The tab "Accueil" has a nice Flash overview of the place.

Good luck, David!

< Message edited by toucanne -- 6/6/2009 11:57:24 PM >

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RE: I think I am "ART BRUT" - 6/7/2009 12:58:21 AM

almalee

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I do see why you gravitated to this term, but certainly you are not uneducated, and unexposed to art tradition listed in the art brut critria. Some time back I noticed that EBSQ added a category description in their portfolio options called Fluxus-brut-avant garde and here is just one definition Fluxus-brut-avant garde. I looked it up out of curiousity, you might find it interesting also.

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RE: I think I am "ART BRUT" - 6/7/2009 1:42:26 AM

platypus

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Back when I first started selling on ebay that everyone & their brother was calling themselves "outsider" (which they very clearly weren't but it became quite a popular search term). I always thought that one of the main stipulations of being a true "outsider" & "art brut" artist included the fact that if you were aware enough of what you were doing to call yourself outsider, you weren't. It was generally the work of people cut off from the mainstream (the mentally ill, social misfits etc).

It can be so hard to categorize your own work (I have a hard time myself) but I agree with Alma, that might be a good category for you to check out.

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RE: I think I am "ART BRUT" - 6/7/2009 11:55:02 AM

toucanne

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quote:

if you were aware enough of what you were doing to call yourself outsider, you weren't. It was generally the work of people cut off from the mainstream (the mentally ill, social misfits etc).

Interesting observation, Vicky. You're probably right.
Last year, one of the shows at the Halle St. Pierre (see post above) was the works of British mental institution patients in the 19th and 20th centuries, and it was fascinating.

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RE: I think I am "ART BRUT" - 6/7/2009 2:59:00 PM

platypus

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I checked out that link Muriel, you're right - that work is very interesting anyway but even more so when you consider the mental state of the artists.

Along a similar line, check out the evolution of cat artist Louis Wain's work as he became mentally ill (schizophrenia).

Before:

http://www.lilitu.com/catland/gallery/beach.shtml

After:
http://x66.xanga.com/598b827a5233247895732/b32225086.gif

I like both styles very much, but have to say I think I'm partial to the schizophrenic works.

(sorry to hijack your thread David!)

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RE: I think I am "ART BRUT" - 6/7/2009 3:31:21 PM

toucanne

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Ooh great links, Vicky, thanks.

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RE: I think I am "ART BRUT" - 6/8/2009 2:00:56 PM

KingDavid

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I did consider those decsriptions of mentally-ill patients being true "art-brut" & I know that I am only about half way there (chuckles) ... I never want to consider myself "outsider art" because I know that there are artists that think they can sell more pieces being "against the mainstream" or "rebel" or "anti-establishment". Those things are so exploited these days, not only in art but in all aspects of life, I don't even give them a second of my time. I think my art is unique, but in reality, it's probably been done before & will be after me. I don't care. The term, though, was very extensive & much of it mentioned parts that I thought did apply to my absolute love of creating abstract. Here are some snipets:

"unprocessed and spontaneous, and emphatically distinct from what he saw as the derivative stereotypes of official culture"

"Dubuffet’s ideal of autonomous inspiration rests on a model of the creator being somehow insulated from all social and cultural influences, devoid of all schooling in the arts, and unaware of traditions or preset compositional formulae. The authentic specimen of art brut should be the unsolicited fruit of its maker’s personal resources, being of value precisely as an index of the fertility and independence of individual vision."

"it can be shown that a remarkable proportion of the artists falling into the category were ill-educated, retiring persons whose impulse to create arose late in life, often under the pressure of an emotional trauma, and took the form of a compulsive proliferation such that an isolated piece is often less telling than the cyclical ensemble."

"a pictorial autobiography in which imaginary travels on a galactic scale are represented in colourful, tautly knit designs ..."

"art brut should above all be seen as an art of the subjective, the engrossed pursuit of inner obsessions, sign-systems and configurations. As such, its appeal is idiosyncratic and offbeat, although its marginal position on the general map of art does not preclude its products from exhibiting genuine power and a strange beauty."

< Message edited by KingDavid -- 6/8/2009 2:04:02 PM >

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RE: I think I am "ART BRUT" - 6/9/2009 1:15:20 AM

almalee

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I do agree with those statements and your work. The problem as I see it, is the marketing side of it. Would it be possible to incorporate like ideas and verbage, as part of your own Artist statement? I think that your "Visual Shrapnel" is genius and very illustrative of your work, and the art brut statements above maybe add a little broader explanation. IMHO selling under the title of ART BRUT, will do your work no justice, and confuse the viewer.

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RE: I think I am "ART BRUT" - 6/10/2009 9:05:02 PM

KingDavid

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Alma, I initially was just looking up terms for my own benefit. This art brut term just really captured my attention.

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