Art is Art !

 "Making something out of nothing, or precisely, luring something from the unconscious and giving it material form is the closest thing to real magic there is in this world." - art critic Michael Bonesteel

It seems to me that there is only one thing that matters about art and that is "The Art". It is irrelevant who you are, who you know, what you know, what is relevant is the artwork whatever the medium. I am angered again by the distinction, and I would go as far as to say discrimination, from the established art world towards "outsiders". Whatever your sex, ethnicity or religion, art is art. This is pretty much established, but the significance of the work of self-taught and disabled artists is still largely overlooked as inferior or seen as mere accident. Are not all humans part of the cultural experience and the school of life?

American outsider artist, Felipe Jesus Consalvos. Mixed media collage.

How can the raw, unadulterated creation of these artists be dismissed. They are often closer to the source that educated artists are searching for, unencumbered by the market, technique, style or influence. This is truth, this is art, this is a connection to the first impulse of our ancestors to depict their experience in cave paintings and carvings. Before the distraction of ego and intellectualism took centre stage.

What really annoys me is if you are an "insider" artist it is acceptable to look to primitive art for inspiration. Picasso being the most obvious example of this. His African period saw the creation of one of the most seminal paintings of modern art. The fusion of these supposedly disparate arts in Picasso, gave us a creative revelation that helped rebuild the Western art world. We do well to remember that many artists revered today, were initially dismissed by the establishment. We only need to look at the history of the Impressionists or even the Pre-raphealites to realise this. Let's not forget Van Gogh, if he was painting today would he be dismissed for his mental health problems? Great art is great art, some great artists can at times produce inferior art, although their reputation and monetary value will render it great regardless.

Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. 1907.

My favourite depiction of hands is by the Expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka. Is it only okay to paint hands expressionistically if previously you have proved you can depict them accurately ? If the art world now tolerates the rejection of Western art teaching why not simply bypass it? A natural distillation of the seemingly dreaded "craft".

Oskar Kokoschka, Self Portrait

 This is a dilemma I struggle to make sense of. Look at Chagall's painted hands and use of distortion and perspective. What is the difference between this great art and great art that can be produced by outsiders? Is it a curriculum vitae? And if so, do they even teach drawing and painting at renowned art schools today? It is not so much the term that troubles me. I would argue that with the advent of the internet few artists remain untutored or without influence. It is that if you are labelled by the term your art is not deemed equal. You are an artist or you are not, whether or not you enter or even before you walk through the universities doors. It is the resistance to inclusion. The assumption that an African was ever more primitive in their version of living than us, that disabilities that limit our means of communication and education also result in the exclusion of the creative voice that shines through. It is the art world that needs to open, not the artists.

Chagall, Bride with blue face

The work of Georg Baselitz, now accepted by the mainstream, often comes perilously close to the work of outsider artists, rejecting all the rules and typical "finish" to get to the passion of our existence. He says "Art is visceral and vulgar - it's an eruption" What better way than figurative expressionism, to capture the fluids and emotions of our real lives. To me this seems a more effective way to communicate through paint than a polished, purely representational show of ability.

Georg Baselitz, [The Brücke Chorus] 1983 Oil on canvas 280 x 450 cm

Ben Nicholson, like many artists of his time, looked to naive art, such as Alfred Wallis, in his search for authenticity. It seems to me that much of today's contemporary painters are either knowingly influenced or unconsciously close to emulating the art produced by outsiders. I would love to witness the critique of paintings by the art elite if they had to judge them anonymously.

Two events have led me to this post, the first was the upcoming L S Lowry exhibition at the Tate. I happened upon a documentary by Gandalf, (I mean, Sir Ian Mckellen), highlighting the lack of recognition the artist has received in the art world, although his work is much loved by the "common" people. I was excited to discover his landscapes,seascapes and portraits which I had not previously been aware of and also the collection of ballet drawings discovered after his death.

The second, was the discovery of the art of Judith Scott an "outsider" artist who was profoundly deaf and had Down's Syndrome who may now be starting to be accepted as an "artist" without the denigrative term "outsider". Her work poses a real conundrum for the art world. If her work is accepted as art could this set a precedent for the term to be banished and become obsolete. I do hope this contradiction the established art world is faced with in the art of Judith Scott, tears down some of the limitations to which art the wider public are exposed too.

Judith Scott

 Discrimination in the art world, in Britain particularly, also extends to the medium used. A painter's worth can be diminished if they venture into sculpture or pieces that could be considered craft, such as ceramics. I love the quandary that Grayson Perry's art inflicted by creating contemporary art with the mediums of pottery and tapestry. The painters Gauguin and Picasso successfully ventured into sculpture and the sculptors Giacometti  and William Turnbull were equally important as painters. Is Gauguin's self portrait below a jug or art and is this proof that it can be both? Further, if a painter of abstracts ventures into figurative work it can diminish the validity of their abstracts and vice versa.

Gauguin, Self portrait, Jug in the form of a head.

Isn't it time for the barriers of established opinions to take a backseat and let the artists take their correct place of holding the reins. Theory can define the past, but artists are the champions of our creative future and their art should be unfettered. As my Facebook friend the artist Hannah Reim told me yesterday "Not all art is art and not all craft is craft. Some art is craft and some craft is art." Ultimately, art is art.

The organization above called Creative Growth, is giving developmentally disabled artists the chance to express themselves.

The fool and the eccentric in art.

 In my teens I discovered tarot cards.  Along with all things mystic and spiritual I was ravenous for anything that could inform me of what I was and what life is.  My local library's theology and supernatural section promised answers I have long since discarded.  Mysticism and man-made religion are obsolete in my life as tools for understanding, but I still value the psychological insights and symbolism found within Tarot and of course the illustration.

Tarot box, whittled for me out of the back of an old drawer.

 "The Fool", was supposedly, my card, numerologically speaking.  I cannot claim to understand the reason behind this but for whatever reason, illogical or suggestible, I feel an affinity with this card.  The fool is unconcerned that he is standing on a precipice.  It symbolises a state of wonder and anticipation rather than fear.  A spirit in search of experience, relying on a mystical cleverness, bereft of reason.  Intuition, or tuition from within.  There is a wonderful Russian fairy tale, Vasalissa the beautiful about listening to the inner voice.  On the Thoth pack, the tiger symbolises "no-fear".

Thoth Tarot painted by Lady Frieda Harris.

 When you have children you become more careful about how you choose to live your life.  Less likely to set off on unknown ventures.  Life becomes planned, or at least we try to make it so.  It is about protection and preservation.  Initiative, the daring to "go in", can be eaten away by doubt and a need for certainty can become restrictive.  I remember as a child an occasion when I had to balance fear with knowledge.  A large oak that marked the main entrance to the woods was a favorite tree to climb.  One of it's branches was parallel to the ground about ten feet up.  My friend and I walked across this branch like a tightrope, knowing it was wide and strong enough to walk on, knowing that beneath it was a drop and we could fall, but equally knowing we could walk along it.
 It is art that gives me this rush of bravery now.  To create is to bring into being or form out of nothing.  Knowing you can fail but still going into the unknown regardless.  The artist is a pioneer in the space beyond language, stepping out of the metaphorical edge of the canvas and bringing "it" back.  The fool is apart from the other cards, the joker in the pack.  It is sometimes represented by a madman or a beggar.  It is the only card that is unnumbered, being zero, or a circle that has no beginning and no end.  This is said to symbolise that the fool is everyone in every place, energy that is always on the move and cannot be pinned down.
  The word eccentric means "outside of the circle".  The outsider, a social deviant, and often walks the line between genius and madness.  Edith Sitwell described eccentrics as "entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd."  Maybe it is being outside the circle, or thinking outside the box, which enables a different perspective.  Thus, allowing a holistic view of the world and insights on the human condition.

Huang Shen, (1687----1768)

   The eight eccentric painters of Yangzhou or "the eight strange ones", painted in a style that was deemed expressive and individualistic.  Their paintings showed strong personal character which broke away from the restraints of the time.
  I came across the term liminality, from the Latin for "threshold", meaning between two different existential planes.  It is the state of being in between situations or conditions.  A no-place or limbo, like the universe before the big bang, that although uncertain and frightening, is a rich ground for creativity. A place of initiation where the known identity and established structures dissolve.  Within this chaos is the possibility of a new perspective.  I love this idea of threshold people.  Eccentric outsider artists ahead of their time.

  Outsider art is art created by insane asylum inmates or people who live life as they see fit, not giving into external social pressures, such as Henry Darger, the reclusive American artist and writer.

Self-portrait, "Subconscious". Oil on board. 12 x 15". 2011.

The above painting is part of a series of four that make up a painting in the style of a photobooth photograph.  It is still a work in progress, I haven't finished the eyes and I know it is not "there" yet.  I have included it because of the background.  The orange and black was supposed to represent an oppressive version of the photobooth curtain.  After I had painted it I saw it was a tiger.

"Fear not.  What is not real, never was and never will be.  What is real, always was and cannot be destroyed."  Bhagavad Gita.

I used to be so afraid, but now I  look back on the tumult of my life with a wry smile, then I paint.