Jerry Saltz on Outsider Art

I just finished reading an article written by Jerry Saltz on 'outsider' art. it was good, and roughly echoed my sentiments on the subject. I was most moved by a comment made by The Museum of Everything, however.

Here it is in its entirety:

"Mr Saltz, well said. We humbly bow our heads and prepare to march on midtown. Yet within your huggable call to arms, there is more to be uttered.

The Outsider Art Fair has blossomed under Andrew Edlin's spirited leadership. This weekend New Yorkers are drifting through the gallery spaces like never before, wowed by the delicate, private worlds on display.

So is it a blip or a revolution?

Artists who make for themselves, not for us, whose languages are expressed without mind to the market, museum or masses, reveal essential truths about human creativity.

Contemporary art opened our eyes to their unusual forms and formats; yet the Duchampian gatekeepers of art reject those who do not or cannot provide context. That's why the hidden metaphors of invisible makers are rarely given priority.

What you are actually talking about is segregation - no more, no less.

Why is Bill Traylor, one of the first African-American artists, not in institutions for historical American art? Why is Henry Darger, the grandaddy of post-modern fantasy, not in Tate Modern? Why are the assemblages of Judith Scott, the poster-girl for learning-disabled artists, not perceived as major artworks by major institutions?

The problem, as you rightly finger, are the words themselves. Since we first spotted this brilliant, unruly stuff, we've been fencing it in. We call these discoveries brut, naive, visionary, outsiders ... dammit, we even call them primitives.

These are people, just like us, who are complex, just like us, who are black, just like us, who are creative, just like us, who are disabled, just like us, and who are out there, doing their thing, trying to make sense of the world around them.

That is why the work speaks so loudly. It represents us. It is us.

So you got it spot on, Mr Saltz. There are no outsiders. There is no outsider art. We were created, so we must create. These artists reach back to the caves and leap into the cosmos. And their vast, global, secret, alternative history of art has existed long before the word "art" decided what was hot and what was not.

The troops are assembled. The target is in sight. Creativity is a human right, not just for some, but for all. Together we will change the trajectory of art forever.

Vive la révolution, The Museum of Everything "

LA MOCA

"It’s a reflection of the crisis in cultural funding. It’s about the role of museums in a culture where visual art is marginalized except for the buzz around secondary market sales, it’s about the not so subtle recalibration of the meaning of “philanthropy,” and it’s about the morphing of the so-called “art world” into the only speculative bubble still left floating (for the next 20 minutes). Can important and serious exhibitions receive funding without a donor having a horse in the race? Is attendance a sustaining revenue stream for museums? Has it ever been? "
-Barbara Kruger and Catherin Opie

Glock Days? UPDATED

Listening to CBC Radio 1, my ears perk up when I hear 'Glock Days' and 'Westman Dreams for Kids' in the same sentence. A business in Virden, MB (Wolverine Supplies), has decided to hold a two day festival celebrating the glock pistol. "No license necessary to participate!".

The woman being interviewed, Danielle, noted how successful the events were in the USA.

Incredibly, they are also raffling off a new glock pistol. So anyone who buys a ticket can win the gun.

I just don't understand how the people at Westman  Dreams for Kids could possibly think this is a good festival to get behind. Kids and guns? I am reminded of my dearly beloved but long since departed Pearl Jam t-shirt from my teen years: 9 out of 10 kids prefer crayons to guns. Silly me, I thought that was a good thing....

And another reason I am disgusted with the pairing of children and guns. A 5 year old shot his 2 year old sister with a rifle marketed towards youth, ages 4 - 10.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2013/05/maker-of-my-first-rifle-for-kids-disappears-after-toddler-killed.html?cmp=rss

I stumbled upon one hell of a website this evening. A site devoted to controversial works of art, complete with comments published in local media, answering messages, or interviews with the general public. I have thoroughly enjoyed the last 30 minutes laughing at some of the responses people have when they don't understand something.

I had two favourites:

 After the WAG selected as winner Jean Paul Mousseau's The Blob, 1955, in the annual juried exhibition:


"My painting is not a meaningless blob but an expression of the cosmic forces of the universe".
-Jean Paul Mousseau, prize-winning artist (Free Press, Nov. 8, 1955)

And of course, in response to a show at teh Plug In in 1998:

"I don't really care for you people using the Golden Boy as your gay thing. That's pretty gross. That's Manitoba's honorable person standing up on that thing there. That's pretty gross you guys".
-Anonymous caller to the Plug In answering machine, June 1998


If you want to see how Winnipeg has responded to art over the years, I highly recommend Don Goodes site.

Down then Up

Feeling characteristically down, I went to the internet to see what I could find. Normally I try 'funny cats', but somehow I happened upon a website called 'In the Make: Studio Visits with Artists and Designers. It is a site run by photographer Klea McKenna and writer Nikki Grattan. The two travel around documenting wildly cool artists through intriguing interviews and stellar photography.

The site is beautifully laid out: boat loads of white space, clean text, and vibrant colour photographs. I was immediately drawn to the entry on Mary Button Durell. Giant shaped paper reminiscent of my childhood attempts at geometric beehives, spirograph fleshed out, and candy. Her medium is tracing paper, wheat paste and recently adding acrylic paint. The result is playful and ethereal. 

In her own words:

"I’ve chosen to work with the properties of light and translucency, biomorphic forms and patterns. The work has been compared to natural worlds: subaquatic, celestial and cellular. Depending on the process and the light, the individual pieces can take on the characteristics of different, more solid materials such as wood, bone, shell or marble."

Subaquatic - definitely. There is also definitely a scientific element to the creations. 

Seeing her work seemed to make me feel temporarily better. If I could have a wish right this moment, I'd wish that I could shrink down a la Alice, and float through those beautiful wispy tunnels.

Furious

I have to say, this Harper government is really getting to me. I find this country almost unrecognizable: from the days when I was a little kid learning in school about all of the things that made this country, well, this country, those defining characteristics are vanishing at such an alarming rate that I am shocked.

 Let's reminisce for a moment, shall we? What do you remember about Canada when we were young? Our incredible abundance of natural resources, our steadfast decision to be a country devoted to staying out of wars (although I am keenly aware that we have a troubled, deeply troubled past), our support for the arts (admittedly mediocre support, but this recent trend is horrific)...

Well, a dear friend of mine just informed me of a decision laid down today: The closure of Experimental Lakes Area: a research site that has been functioning since 1968.

 Borrowed from The Wall Street Journal:

"One example of the very real impact on Canadians of the government's most recent decision regarding DFO is the withdrawal of support for research conducted as part of the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) program. A region of remote lakes has been dedicated, since the late 1960's, to whole-lake ecosystem research. It has been the site of groundbreaking studies into the effects of pollutants, acid rain, freshwater aquaculture, and hydroelectric dams on freshwater ecosystems. The ELA is also where researchers track how Canada's freshwater ecosystems respond to climate change.

This latest round of cuts to the Department will affect positions for Biologists, Chemists and Researchers, Policy Advisors, IT Specialists and Commerce and Purchasing Officers in communities across the country: British Columbia(18), Manitoba(27), the National Capital Region (16), Ontario(14), Quebec (25), New Brunswick(5), Newfoundland(10) and Nova Scotia(19).

 "These cuts are not "back office" cuts. They are yet another blow to the federal government's capacity to use science to protect Canadians, their environment and our economic interests", said PIPSC President Gary Corbett. "The government is eliminating programs that have generated world-renowned studies of freshwater ecosystems as well as impacting work to monitor Arctic contaminants, dioxins and other pollutants."

 WTF?! I feel sick. But what can I do? This is a concern that is facing all of us today-feeling our voices are not/can not/will not be heard....

Visit www.SafetyEh.ca and join the growing number of Canadians supporting public services.You can sign petitions, send letters to your MPs (they even look them up for you if you don't know who yours is), and you can also download an action kit to become more informed about what is happening.

Happy Birthday Dad

This picture was taken exactly 60 years ago today. Happy Birthday Dad. Miss you every single day.