Outsider Art is In - What do you think of it?

Cobalt, I lost track of your thread--just found it again and thank heaven I did. This is wonderful! Kayla, I have seen lots of art done by people with developmental disabilities. It is freeing just to look at it with its primary colors and quirky, whimsical shapes. There is often a balance that is so appealing, it seems to affect one's very sense of gravity.

I've also seen some art that is dark and troubling, by a Veitman vet with Post Traumatic Stress syndrome. The man painted one canvas full of eyes with dark greens and browns, nothing but eyes. Another of his was a rather cheerful scene of daisies, but the eyes were there in the center of the flowers. Both paintings full of eyes, which was the man's recurring nightmare; eyes in the jungle or in a field of flowers, eyes that he could never escape.

Did you see the section in the New York Times Magazine titled, The Year of Ideas? One segment was on an artist, blind from birth, who could draw shapes only from touch, "all infused with a deft sense of perpective that even Leonardo would have admired."

A major point of the article was that the artist, Tracy Carcione, was not alone in her ability. "The emerging idea is that picture-making is a cognitive ability so deeply embedded in our brains that it flourishes even when our eyes fail us."

"What has really shocked cognitive scientists, however, is that many blind artists seem to have the tricks of the Renaissance buried inside their brains. Foreshortening, vanishing points and other devices of modern pictorial realism--techniques that artists in the Middle Ages lacked--can be found in blind art."

This points to the fact that art is an integral part of us, whether we are aware of it or not. Apparently the ability is there, in the brain, only waiting to be tapped. My question is: how is ability transformed into talent? Why are some people able to tap into this ingrained part of our brains while others appear to lack any ability, much less talent?

To me, outsider art shows how art develops. It is unselfconcious, instinctive and honest. It seems to go directly to that part of our brains anyone should be able to tap into, but so few ever do.

So many artists have said that anyone can be an artist. Apparently that is true. So why doesn't it happen?

Sorry, Cobalt, this is way off the subject. I'm rambling.
Good night, Gracie.

outsider art
Diane, is it possible that the eyes surrounding the Vietnam warrior stand for two things (simultaneously): the fear of being spied upon by potential killers, and the eyes of shame for being there to kill people himself? Just an idle thought. Good night George.

Anybody hear of Peter Max? A pop art artist that seems to be getting very popular. I personally do not care for his kind of art, but the cruise boat I was on last month had a bunch of his art work for sale and auction. c.i.

It is not unusual for adults with develomental disabilities to have a dual diagnosis, the second being mental illness. Because many of them are not that verbal, diagnosing the kind of mental illness is very difficult. I am hoping that in the future, diagnosing multiple personalty disorder, etc. maybe facilitated by looking at their artwork. Today I gave my students and exercise in patterns. They were to draw a specific thing. It really didn't matter what they put down. The main point of the exercise was duplicating the initial item over and over, an exercise in focus. Some of my "less functioning" students had no problem with the task while others really had to work at it. One "high functioning" student who I suspect should be dual diagnosed could not do the exercise and resorted to copying from the person next to her. All this is stated to justify the theory that people who practice unhibited, unschooled art should not be messed with. Their art is their own. It is part of them. To attempt to change their art into art that corresponds with the rules of traditional art is ridiculous. There is a distintion between these artists and others who manipulate their final product to disguise the fact that they lack the ability to produce decent art according to their ability or innate consciousness.

outsider art
Kayla, the theory that "people who practice uninhibited, unschooled art should not be messed with", should, in my judgement, be applied to EVERYONE! Everyone's art--if it is art--is their own (as compared to a commerical "artist" or designer who is meeting the needs of a client)

JLN, yes, I think the vet was truly haunted, by those who were tying to kill him and by those he had killed.

Kayla, amen.
Have you worked with much autism? I have a paper cutting done by an autistic man who has exceptional talent in many media. The very precise cutting seems to fit his personality, a man who values precision and exactitude in everything he does.

JLN, so you and the lightwizard are old hippies? I lived in San Francisco from 1964 to early 1967, near the Haight/Ashbury.
What a time for a hick from Arizona!!

Diane-Yes several of my students have autism. Their work is very intricate and unusual. Yes I agree, JL. There's a tendency with some of the staff that art work needs to make sense and look "appropriate." I, on the other hand, trust the creation that has not been bastardized by external forces. Lucky for me, the powers that be see it my way.

At the used book store the other day I found a great book called Art Brut by Michel Thevoz.

The author spends some time writing and provides photographs of the Watts Tower's of much fame from the 60s because of rioting. I think the Watt's Towers were my first exposure to art brut. I loved them imeediately.

Dubuffet , collector of Rough Art