CAT-alyse Creativity

I think it is safe to say that most artists are characters, some charmingly quirky, others uniquely eccentric, and then there are the select few who are not playing with a full pack of cards. We all joke about the crazy peeps we meet in the field, but this is of course, because we really aren't witnessing the worst of the mental disorders (which is no laughing matter). I am talking about the big ones that get you committed. It is hard to say if any of these creations from within the hospitals are going to count as fine art. There are those who believe that these unbridled expressions of Academically untainted creativity are the purest, truest forms of art (children's pictures also being included here). Then again, there is a difference between an artist, now committed, making work, versus the creations of a non-artist in an art therapy session. It boils down to what is art as a craft and what is art as a product made by a professional who combines mastered technique with creative genius. This is why you normally see mental patient art in outsider art galleries, with one noted exception of Louis Wain. 

Wain was a Victorian artist, never part of the mainstream British Academy, who specialized in comical cat illustrations. Then he became a schizophrenic and started his 'whooooooaa' cat drawings (like Mittens here, pictured above). Now he is highly collectible and finally counted as a fine artist. Wain was prolific; fabulous, really because I need one of these strangely psychedelic cats. It is really funny to think that these drawings are from the 1930's. They just seem so forward thinking in terms of aesthetic. I feel the same way about William Blake's work. I don't think they are ahead of their time exactly, just unfettered by temporal conventions. I would say that they fit in with more modern work only because it is now mainstream to be 'original' and un-Academic. But who knows, in another 20 years these kitties might go back to being dated misfits.

Building Hair-odynamics

DAMMIT

This was going to be my senior thesis...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6129774/Woman-builds-house-out-of-human-hair.html
I know this was not made as art outright (more in the craft category), but I think the basic idea fits well into many process, time lapse, and conceptual art practices. Although I guess it counts as fiber art, right?

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun: More Chewing Gum

I feel compelled to respond to Allie's last post about Maurizio Savini with a discussion about the grandmommy of chewing gum sculptures, Nellie Mae Rowe. Considered a master of American Folk Art, Rowe's work has influenced artists and designers (check THIS out) since the 1970s, when she was first recognized as an artist.

Rowe, like many great outsider artists, was prolific, using every scrap of paper for drawings, and recycling any spare materials she could find into her artwork. Childless and a two-time widow, Rowe devoted herself almost completely to art-making after the death of her second husband. Every inch of her home and yard were filled with drawings, sculptures, and dolls. She is well known for her chewing gum sculptures like "Woman in Bonnet" pictured above, though there are surprisingly few images of these to be found on the web.

Want more Nellie? Read John MacGregor's "I See a World Within a World: I Dream but Am Awake." (No, it's not online, you have to go to the library or a bookstore for this one **gasp**)

Outsider Art for the Great Outdoors

Did we mention that it is also a planter?? Clearly a MacArthur contender. http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/spk/1269403672.html

I'll Doro Your Dango...

Just when you thought that you had too many artsy hobbies, here comes a mud ball out of left field. Dorodango is the Japanese art of making balls out of mud and then polishing them. Wikipedia describes this as being very popular with Japanese children. I find this particularly funny since playing in the mud is also a common pastime for American kids---except when they play in the dirt, you end up with a big, freaking mess and ringworm.

Dorodango is well known in Japan but is definitely under the radar here in the US. It sounds like tremendous fun, though and a good opportunity to obsess over something. The Dorodango balls are gorgeous when they are done. They have a high polish and are colored according to the soil from which they originated, so you can get some interesting effects. You know you want to try it! Just think of cocktail party conversation potential!!

A dirty site with pics and instructions: http://www.dorodango.com/.

Ishmael and Ahab's Wish List: Michael Cohen's Scrimshaw

Who watches Antiques Roadshow on PBS, because I must confess that I watch every week. Maybe once a month, a nice piece of scrimshaw appears.  For those who are not hip to 1800 sailor slang, scrimshaw is bone, teeth, ivory, shell, etc., etched by hand and then colored by rubbing has ink into the depressions. It is generally considered craft as it was historically done by sailors/whalers while on voyages during moments of idleness and sobriety (which may explain why there aren't tons of these things floating around).

As it turns out, scrimshaw is still alive and well and Artist Michael Cohen is generating some really marvelous versions. First of all, I just gotta say, it has to be very hard to create such fine detail and shading. Just looking at older examples from history, it is clear that Cohen's work is leaps and bounds above your average deck hand. As for subject matter, there are some departures but I would argue that its intent is still the same.  Maybe there weren't pin-up vixens on early mariners' pieces, as it wasn't socially appropriate to show full bloomers and exposed bustle just anywhere (luckily now you can pay a fortune to have Christian Lassen paint a babe snuggling with a tiger and a stallion on top of your Camaro). It's expected that tastes will shift over time and even the oldest of art forms will take on new subjects. What isn't expended is to see someone with all the skill that Michael Cohen has, really elevating a historical craft-form to fine art.

Pick one up for the man in your life: http://www.michaelcohenscrimshaw.com/

Save the Stones and Gather Moss: Ciao Birdie and Etsy

There is a shop in Portland on Mississippi Ave. called Flutter; Currently, it is home to a lovely installation of miniature moss gardens compiled by Barb, the artist behind Ciao Birdie (with a Wordpress and an Etsy following). These little beauties are spectacular. Yes, they are aesthetically pleasing, but the care and love that went into them are their major selling point. They elicit the same feeling that I get when I look at a little old man and his model train set (that guy who built a miniature landscape in his basement). There is just such an earnest outpouring of thoughtfulness into the placement of each rock and green clump, as if each terrarium was lovingly whispered to each day.

I am SO SO smitten with these Indie Arts and Crafts objects. Conceptually, you could say as much about one of these gardens as you could about a rotting cow head in a box of flies (you know the piece, don't you?), but the informal setting and mundane presentation underscore the soft spoken aspects of this new art genre. These pieces and the artists are quiet, content to find and stay in their niche and put out an excellent product. Philosophically, I think that there is something wise about that. It seems like a private pursuit of individual excellence and continual refinement is much more soulful than a push for fortune and branding.

So here is the question: Is Fine Art ready to redefine what an art piece, a gallery, and an artist look like?

Check out: http://ciaobirdie.wordpress.com/

When Your Easter Bunny Eats Pierogi...

...then you might get these little gems scattered on your lawn and flower beds. Ukrainian pysanka are pretty spectacular. Making them involves blowing out your eggs (stop giggling), waxing, and many dye jobs. Sounds like a productive weekend, right? Well, you would be lucky to get one of these guys done in under 100 hours, assuming you have the skill and practice to do it in the first place. It is interesting that these pysanka are on the fine line between craft and art. Sure, they are a decorative craft, but there is the potential for so much artistry to go into them. As such, they demand high prices and can be found in museums, though mostly ones devoted to traditional, cultural art. I think these little beauties could easily make the jump to fine art if some contemporary artist decided to incorporate them in a more conceptual installation at a museum or gallery. Any takers?http://www.ukrainianegg.com/frontpg.htm provided this pysanka image.

What Kind of Voodoo Do You Do? Haitian Voodoo flags

Before painter/glitter king/dung decorator extraodinaire Chris Ofili was pissing off Mayor Giuliani, the folk artists of Haiti were sticking sequins on the faces of saints for centuries.  Voodoo flags (aka "vodou flags") are the best known of the Haitian arts and have grown increasingly more popular in recent decades.  Originally created to be used in religious ceremonies, the flags are now mostly made for decorative purposes.  Frequently depicting mermaid goddesses (Sirene), Catholic saints, and a cast of other unusual folk and religious characters, these flags are unbelievably cool.  Check out the guy above who has FUCKING SNAKES coming out of his mouth and ass.  Sexy topless mermaids? Jesus made out of sequins? Snakes out the butt?  No, you haven't died and gone to hipster heaven (if you had, there would certainly be more ironic moustaches/beards), you're looking at some real hand-beaded historically significant shit right now.  So drink it up before Urban Outfitters starts selling them and they become passe and made in China.

Brazilian Bombshell Amaro Francisco

Maybe it was the Brazilian friend-of-a-friend who melted down while being my houseguest recently. Maybe it was the Brazilian model who visited my office not long ago. Maybe it was all those idiots on facebook asking me to "prevent the 'artistic' death of an animal" in Rio. Maybe it was my recent viewing of the fine film "Cannibal Holocaust." Whatever spurred my desire to blog about Brazilian art really doesn't matter once you look at the gorgeous print above by renowned Brazilian folk artist Amaro Francisco. (Yes, I have one of these babies hanging in my living room and I admire on the daily).

One of my favorite folk artists, Francisco's prints are widely available, totally cool, and reasonably priced. A little bit of an outsider/folk/naive art lover myself, I love that such work remains prized more for its beauty more so than for its value as an investment (for the most part, anyway). So keep an eye open for an upcoming series of posts about outsider and folk art. And while you're waiting, check out www.galeriebonheur.com, where I purchased my Amaro Francisco print.