Tag: outsider art

Artist Showcase: David Mutnjakovic

This artist showcase comes from David Mutnjakovic, whose art is a release from extreme pain, taking him beyond anywhere he can possibly imagine. He sees ‘outsiders’ as those who have had the courage to head into the darkness – and the courage to bring back the light to those who are curious. Read on to find out more about David and his work.

Repairing

When did your interest in art/creating begin?

In 2010, I suffered a near death experience due to a massive flare-up of Crohns Disease which went unchecked for three years. After my recovery I began to have visions, or hallucinations, which came to me in vivid color, as little films, or as strange twisted colorless figures speaking a language I could not understand.

The images of these creatures burned into my mind, I became possessed by them. I began to wonder if I was going mad or losing my mind so I began to draw them. To document them, to show my doctor, and the people around me in perfect detail what I was witness to.

Each vision was accompanied by a story. Yet the story could not be revealed through words, or symbols, as we know them. Only by drawing them, could each individual tale be told. Upon close observation each illustration describes a world within a world within a world. These worlds I had come to realize are within us all.

The hallucinations made me vividly aware of the fact that what I call shapes, colors, and textures in the outside world are also states of my nervous system, that is, of me. In knowing each vision, I had come closer to knowing the self. The visions I was having were actually me speaking to me through me, by way of the unknown.

She asked me what my soul looked like

What is your starting point for each piece?

A spontaneous moment with a coloured pencil on a piece of paper. I dance with pencils in my hand leaving traces of movement on the paper. Within I can determine the shape which is asking to be drawn out of what was once nothing.

The scent of jasmine

Who/what influences your work?

In the beginning it was the body. I would look closely at the anatomical drawings in Greys Anatomy, and transform the heart into a creature, or the cardiovascular system into a microcosmic universe. Through this process I came to know my own body intimately. This was important in my healing process. At the time I had abscesses that burned holes through my small intestines into my bladder and so on. The X-Ray of my intestinal track looked like I had been shot in the guts six or seven times. Drawing the body, combining scientific drawings with the power of my imagination, I am certain, was what was responsible for my miraculous recovery.

Harmonies

What do you hope the viewer gets from your work?

The work opens up a dialog between “it” and their own traumatic experiences even periods of grieving. I must say “it” as I do not believe the works are a depiction of just my experience, rather they come from a universal trauma. That which we all share, I understand trauma as that which connects us beyond the physical, and psychological spheres of understanding. In my past exhibits viewers have spoken to me about their own journey with pain. One woman even saw her cancer. The works create a portal to true empathy. Today, the atonement of my trauma does not come through completion of my work but through the dialogue of healing it offers for me and the viewer.

Body

What do you think about the term Outsider Art? Is there a term that you think works better?

Colin Wilson the ‘The Outsider’ says “The outsider is not sure who he is. He has found an ‘I’, but it is not his true ‘I.’ His main business is to find his way back to himself.” I think that the term ‘outsider art’ is just a beginning. It is a way for artists who have been knocked out of society’s ‘normal’ to connect through a term. Van Gogh, William Blake, Frida Kahlo, these people where all travelling back and forth between the known, and the unknown. Life and death. How can a word be used to define that which can only be expressed through imagery? You cannot. The outsider artist knows that there is no outside, just as there is no inside. It is all an encompassing whole. It is safe to say to everyone has had that terrifying feeling to be on the outside of something. Exiled and alone, one either gets curious and goes deeper into it. Or one gives into fear and runs back to the herd for safety. Outsiders are those who muster the courage to head straight into the darkness, and bring back the light for those who may have turned back in fear, but remain curious.

Arts Under

What are you working on at the moment?

In the past six years I have created hundreds of drawings, animations, and stories. At the same time I have begun to work in schools with children and ‘at-risk’ youth as an Art Educator. My objective now is to build up my art practice to a level where I can inspire children and youth who feel like an outsider to create works of art which allow them to make sense of what is happening or has happened to them. Children particularly are not given the chance to find solutions to their own problems. The art room is the perfect opportunity for them to do so. My dream to is to return to Croatia, the country which my father was exiled. To exhibit, and work with the children of the parents who have suffered from the War.

Untitled

Where do you see your work taking you in the future?

Beyond anywhere I can possibly imagine.

To see more of David’s work, click here to visit his website

August 1, 2018
In Focus: the Context of Outsider Art

Welcome to the final installment of ‘In Focus,’ a series of blog posts featuring question and answer sessions between me and PhD student Marion Scherr. In this last post, we’ll look at the term outsider art in an international context, and discuss the relationship between outsider art and the ‘traditional, mainstream’ art that is taught to college and university students.

Steve Murison, Unwitch My Heart with Bile and Rum

Marion Scherr (MS): What are your experiences or thoughts on how ‘Outsider Art’ is dealt with on an international scale? I’m always wondering why the term is used predominantly – and with a few important exceptions – in the English-speaking West, and hasn’t caught on in other countries/languages to a certain extent.

Kate Davey (KD): This is a very interesting question, and something I am working with at the moment. I think, even within Europe, there is a lot of variation about how the term Outsider Art is used and the connotations that surround it. From my experience, there are parts of Europe that still very much use a medical model when discussing outsider artists and the work they create. I think this is probably because that is where the work originated in many parts of Europe – in psychiatric institutions – and it was found predominantly by doctors (e.g. Prinzhorn and Morganthaler).

I am not entirely sure why it seems so different in the UK – it is perhaps more to do with the history of mental health than the history of outsider art. Certainly there are very few organisations that focus on a medical model in the UK. Even Bethlem Gallery, which is attached to the Royal Bethlem Hospital, does not focus on a medical model. The artists are very much at the heart of what they do, and it is about being an artist rather than a patient.

In places like America, terms like self-taught or folk art are much more common than the term outsider art, and again, I think it is more a reflection on social history than art history, and I think this is the case for much of the world. In recent years, outsider art from Japan has become a big market, with much of the work that falls under this category being produced in Japan’s day centres. Again, social reasons rather than artistic – and I think this is probably the key to understanding why the term is so different across the world. I am not saying I agree with this idea, because it instantly takes the focus away from the art and puts it on society, politics and medicine (which we are trying to move away from in the outsider art world and focus purely on aesthetic), but it certainly seems to be true.

Manuel Lanca Bonifacio

MS: I would be interested to hear more about your thoughts regarding the position of ‘Outsider Art’ in relation to “general” art history as taught in schools and universities. Do you think ‘Outsider Art’ should or can be included into the curriculum of art history? If so, how would you suggest it should be contextualized?

KD: I think it very much should be a part of taught art history at schools and universities. I was lucky enough to be taught about outsider art during my undergraduate degree in art history, but nonetheless it was taught in a separate module that was actually entitled ‘Psychoanalysis and Art.’ So, again, it was separated from the ‘art’ world, and was taught as more of a medical module. There are so many examples of key modern artists being influenced and inspired by the work of outsider artists, that if we do omit it from what we teach, we are at risk of missing out a huge and vitally important part of history.

In terms of contextualising outsider art, I think history can contextualise it perfectly well on its own. It was created at a certain point in time, for a certain reason – and much of it did intertwine with social, political and economic history. I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on the links between German Expressionism and Outsider Art, and this is a perfect example of a well-known (now, anyway) group of artists wanting to imitate the intuitive rawness evoked by outsider artists as a reaction to their own social and political context. There are many moments where outsider art dovetails with the ‘mainstream’ art world throughout art history, and I think to ignore this is to do a disservice to the greater picture of what ‘art’ is and what it can explain about society and humanity (now, and historically).

We hope you have enjoyed the In Focus series! If you have any comments or questions, please do post them below. Both Marion and I would love to hear your thoughts on any of the topics we’ve been discussing.

Featured Image by Matthew

June 27, 2018
In Focus: The Fascination with Outsider Art

Here is the third installment of the ‘In Focus’ series, which sees regular question and answer sessions between me and PhD student Marion Scherr. This post looks at the increasing fascination with outsider art, and the lack of the artist’s voice in exhibitions and publications.

Steve Murison, The One and Only Number One In Our Hearts Forever, Lemar

Marion Scherr (MS): Although ‘Outsider Art’ is still a niche phenomenon, it seems to get more and more popular (considering the amount of exhibitions, specialist galleries, book publications etc.). Where do you think this increasing fascination with ‘Outsider Art’ comes from? Why do people seem to need this concept of the ‘Other’ or of the ‘Outsider’ in your opinion?

Kate Davey (KD): This is a really interesting question, and it’s something that I think I have figured out in some part based on my own experience of viewing outsider art. I think the ballooning in popularity of outsider art has in some respects had a lot to do with the art market and what sells. In recent years, the ‘otherness’ and ‘difference’ of outsider art has grown in popularity and galleries and dealers have managed to put a price on this.

If we move away from the art market – as I think this can sometimes muddy the water – in my opinion, the popularity of outsider art has come from people looking for something they can relate to on a more personal level. Certainly for me, fatigue with the ‘mainstream’ art world, and a sense that art was becoming more about money and sales and less about expressing an idea or a position, led me to become fascinated with outsider art. I think people (both art world and general public) can look at a piece of outsider art and feel like they are seeing a raw idea or expression. What I find with outsider art is that it gives me a physical reaction, which is something I rarely experience when looking at ‘mainstream’ art.

Increasingly, the world is becoming more capitalist, everything is based around making money and spending money, and I think there is a pull from outsider art because generally the artist has not made it to sell, or to increase their following, or to become famous. It is this naivety, and, ultimately, the feeling that we are looking at someone’s inner thoughts or inner voice, that is really magnetic. It is human nature to want to find out about people, to understand people who are the same as us, who are different to us, and I think outsider art really enables us to do this.

Particularly in the world we are living in today, outsider art can break down barriers between people from different backgrounds, from different countries, of different races and religion, and I think this is something people are actively searching for at the moment.

Jim Sanders

MS: Considering the popularity of the genre ‘Outsider Art’, it still surprises me how little we actually hear from the artists themselves when we visit exhibitions or museums etc. In most cases there is a curator or collector talking “about” the artist and his/her work. Your blog seems to be one of the rare exceptions in the field, where artists are invited to share their version of the story and experience with the term. I’d be interested to find out more about your thoughts on this issue. Why is it that ‘Outsider Artists’ are normally left out of the dialogue?

KD: Absolutely, I completely agree with you on this one. I think it’s definitely getting better, and there are certainly studios, projects and organisations that are working on rectifying this issue in the outsider art world by putting the artist’s voice at the heart of their work.

Personally, I find it incredibly important to include the voice of artists, not just in exhibitions and publications, but also in defining the term and discussing its development. I think the idea of curators and art historians defining what a movement is, who can be involved, and what is written about it is something that dates back a long way. I think the nature of outsider art and the artists the term can encompass is one of the stumbling blocks curators in this area have to learn to work with. Artists can be non-verbal; artists might not consider what they create to be art; they might not know how to talk about it. I think curators can try to fill this gap, when really, we should constantly be checking ourselves, making sure we’re working with artists at every stage of the process, enabling them to communicate about their work in whatever way that might be (video, words, poetry, other visual tools). And if they aren’t able to communicate about it, then realising that that is OK too. The work will speak for itself.

Because a lot of outsider artists have not travelled the traditional route through art school, they probably won’t have learnt about the art market and how it works along the way. They are creating as a form of catharsis, it can be an urge, or an innate part of their survival. It can be easy for curators who see the incredible output of outsider artists to take advantage, and I think this is something that has tainted the outsider art world. I am a strong believer in co-production, and as curators and promoters of outsider art we also have a social responsibility to not be another ‘institution’ that labels people, that puts words in their mouths, or groups people or artists in a way they are not comfortable with. It is difficult, and it is a learning process, but we need to overcome the historical idea that curators are the ‘expert’ or the ‘trend-setters.’

There is so much to be gained from working with artists directly, learning about their processes, how they work, what inspires them, and it is such a shame that this can so often be lost in the way work is displayed. Particularly with contemporary outsider art (where the artists are still living!), we have such a great opportunity to share the voices and insights of such a huge range of interesting people. It can be a great way not to just learn about art, but to learn about difference and similarity – and human nature!

Featured Image: Mitsi B, Time to Go

June 13, 2018
Artist Showcase: Ken Ricci

This latest Artist Showcase highlights the interesting collage work of Ken Ricci. If you would be interested in having a showcase of your work on the blog, please email kdoutsiderart@yahoo.com.

The motion pictures shown in this theatre are for mature adults over 21 who are not easily offended

When did your interest in art/creating begin?

.

I started creating collages three years ago, covering the top and first three drawers of my black filing cabinet. The images and graphics I cut, pasted & sealed, came from a couple of boxes of ephemera I’d saved inside the cabinet. They came out as four collages and after creating them, I began an unfolding series of collages. If I could point to the beginning of my interest in the visual arts, it would be during my job in the art department of the Strand Book Store in The East Village, NYC. All those amazing art books.

.

So…predictable

.

What is your starting point for each piece?

.

Since collaging the original filing cabinet I’ve been working on 1/8″ hardboard ranging from 2″x4″ to smaller 8″x24″ panels. As the size of the panels change, so does my approach to the work. The starting point for each depends on the size of the panel. If I am working on a large piece like a 2″x4″ or a 20″x40″, I start in the upper left corner and improvise my way across and down the panel in a series of problem solving steps using whatever images, colors, shapes or textures I have at my disposal (collected & cut-out… and maybe cut again).

.

My current preference is for the 8″x24″ panels because the size allows me to ‘rough out’ the whole piece. But even then, between the time I make a layout and the time I get the glue onto it, it always changes. The true starting point for any one of my works is the ‘visual vocabulary’ of the cut-out pieces I’ve chosen to use on the panel at hand. Generally included: architectural images (past & present), evocative – sometimes mysterious – figures, designs or images, either from nature or man-made.

.

I don’t know what happened… the evening started out so well

.

Who/what influences your work?

.

Selected images strewn then gathered on the worktable are the determining factors of each panel. It is an on-going process as they are culled from old magazines with advertisements, city planning booklets, architectural and interior design magazines or discarded books on almost any subject.

.

To name artists: in some way possibly the work of Hieronymus Bosch, Romare Beardon, and George Tooker has influenced my own perspective.

.

Come in… the dream just started

.

What do you hope the viewer gets from your work?

.

Engagment and personal resonance with a particular panel one can relate to.

.

Ya know I think he’s gonna make it

.

What do you think about the term Outsider Art? Is there a term that you think works better?

.

Well, when I think of Outsider, I think of Colin Wilson’s meditation on the Outsider. In many ways that sense of disquiet is, I think, evident in my latest series of captioned panels. Beyond that, the ‘Outsider Art’ category is a refreshing, free spirited notion and it has an advantage in that the only expectations in play are your own.

.

You’re next. Your name will be called

.

What are you working on at the moment?

.

My most current work includes a series of black/white/grey captioned panels – the captions are more than a title. They are part of the work being viewed.

.

Oh man, I left my keys in that cab

.

Where do you see your work taking you in the future?

.

Where ever the material takes me.

.

Click here to see more of Ken’s work

June 6, 2018
Curtis Fairley: Animals and Inventions
This is the final installment in a series of posts introducing American artist Curtis Fairley. In this post, collector and supporter of Fairley’s work, George Lawrence, will focus on Fairley’s depictions of animals and inventions.
1. Fairley and animals
Kate Davey: Fairley’s representations of animals are also very interesting. They are almost text-book diagrams of a range of creatures: star fish, cats, deer. These works differ slightly from his naval images, as they are less reliant on descriptive text. Where do you think this fascination with drawing animals came from?

George Lawrence: Yes, I love the animal drawings. And most of them are very simple. I wish I had asked him more about them, but since we never spoke specifically about it, I can’t really say much about his impulse for drawing them.

.

A few of them are placed in settings, so I suppose that those drawings could be documentation of life experiences, like the navy images. One good example of this is the drawing he titled ‘Pumpies in the Breakwaters –Flying Fish’ (Image 30). This is a scene he would have likely observed on one or more of his many sea voyages. I have searched for a fish with a name or nickname like ‘pumpies’ but I haven’t found one yet. Maybe one of your readers has an idea? The text at the bottom of the drawing reads ‘When wings gets Dry Fall back in the water.’ I especially like the graphic quality of this drawing with the regular pattern and repeating shapes against a simple background.

Image 30 – Pumpies in the Breakwaters – Flying Fish

A few of the other animal drawings with settings look like they may have been memories of travels or shore-leave experiences. One of these (Image 31) appears to be a farm scene with a farmer operating some kind of mechanized feeder for cows or pigs. This mechanism could also have been an idea for an invention. It looks like the date at the top reads ‘1987′ but the rest of the text is not legible. Another drawing (Image 32) shows a grouping of birds above a drawing of an elephant with a hay bail, each in a framed background. The text on the page reads ‘Drinking HO2 (sic) Birds snack and.. Elephant Break Bail.’ Maybe these were memories of a trip to the zoo.

Image 31 – 1987

Image 32 – Drinking HO2 (sic) Birds snack and.. Elephant Break Bail.

Other drawings simply feature the animal isolated in a decorative border (Images 33 – 36). Perhaps these drawings were done just for fun – or for Fairley to see how much he could recall about a creature from memory. Although the cats could easily have been Lower East Side residents and convenient models.

Image 33 – Cat Pulls

Image 34 – Cat

Image 35 – Deer

Image 36 – Starfish
1. Fairley’s inventions
KD: A few of Fairley’s ‘invention’ drawings focus on a traffic light bicycle and windmills. He has drawn the traffic light bicycle and variations of a windmill several times, sometimes presenting them with explanatory text, and sometimes just as a visual. It’s interesting, as inventions are often a common theme in work created by outsider artists. What relation do you think these invention drawings have to Fairley’s life – was he a keen cyclist? Did he have knowledge of the workings of windmills? Or are these pure imaginative representations?

.

GL: This is another instance where I don’t have enough information to give you a proper answer, Kate. Unfortunately, we never spoke directly about the invention drawings. I have wondered about whether, if I had known him longer I would have seen more types of inventions. The examples that I have may be the ideas he was working on during the period of time that I knew him.

.

I doubt if Fairley was a cyclist at the time I knew him, but he would have seen people biking everyday on the streets of the Lower East Side. And he would certainly have seen, as I did, bike messengers speeding deftly and sometimes dangerously through Manhattan traffic. Perhaps close encounters between cars and bikes were the inspiration for Fairley’s ‘Bicycle traffic Light’ invention (Image 37). It looks like it is designed to alert people behind the bike as to whether the cyclist is speeding up, slowing down or stopping.

Image 37 – Bicycle Traffic Light

The other invention that Fairley explored in several drawings was a windmill-powered outdoor oven (Image 38). Unlike the Bicycle traffic light, this invention is pictured in a sunny field next to a bordered bed of flowers – a setting that looks far from the streets of Manhattan. The text on the drawing is, conveniently, a recipe for Parker House Rolls.

Image 38 – Windmill Powered Oven

The drawing in image 39 features both inventions, the windmill-oven and the traffic light bike together on the same page. An interesting detail to note is the circular gear-like symbol that has been added to the right of the oven. A scaled-down version of this symbol also appears next to the bicycle seat below. I’m not sure what this symbol represented to Fairley but I think it may have been important. A much larger version of this same shape, intersected by the mast of the ship, also appears in the drawing ‘Knock Abouts’ that I discussed at the beginning of this interview (Image 40). We also see a shape at the top of the ship’s mast that looks like the light bulb from the windmill-oven. It makes me wonder if the symbol might refer to the use of an alternative energy source, and if what I thought was a fantasy drawing of a ship is actually a representation of a invention or a design for a prototype ship. Again – I would love to hear other ideas.
Image 39 – Windmill Powered Oven and Traffic Bicycle

Image 40 – Knock Abouts

This is the final installment of a four part series focusing on American artist Curtis Fairley. To read the previous posts in the series, please visit the links below:
May 30, 2018
Curtis Fairley: Everyday Life

This is the third post in a series introducing artist Curtis Fairley through interviews with George Lawrence, who is a collector and supporter of Fairley’s work. This post focuses on Fairley’s representations of every day life, and how these are intertwined with his life in the US Navy.

4. Fairley and everyday life

Kate Davey: His naval works certainly are incredibly interesting, and go some of the way to putting Fairley at certain points on the map at various points in his life. Some of his other work – the work that appears more ‘everyday’ actually still relates to his life in the Navy. What are your thoughts on these more everyday works? Is it a desire of Fairley’s to document everything he sees and experiences, from the historically important to the relatively ‘mundane’?

.

George Lawrence: There are very few of Fairley’s drawings in my collection that I would categorize as ‘everyday’ unless you qualify it ‘everyday in the Navy.’ I think that the years of military service dominated his thoughts and influenced the subject matter of almost all of his artwork. When you think about it, Fairley entered the Navy in 1945 at the age of 18 and then spent the next 31 years in active service and the reserves. It’s easy to see why the main focus of his artwork would be fixed on those years.

.

Apparently, Fairley’s days were filled with a wide variety of duties and tasks. On the back of one of his drawings he made a list of the different skills and positions that he practiced over the years, some of which he has rated according to how well he performed them, in a kind of graphic resume (Image 19).

Image 19

The over 100 listings are almost all jobs and positions that he held in the Navy. The ones he has rated “Outstanding” and “Excellent” include Galley, Ward Room, Pantry man, Baker, Butcher, Gunner, Loader , Sighter. Jobs rated as “Average” include Shore Patrol, Atomic Attack, Pressure tank, Landing parties and Scullery.

.

From what I have read about the Navy in the 1940’s, African-American servicemen were mostly restricted to job postings such as Steward or Mess Attendant. This appears to have been the case for Curtis when he joined in 1945. However, formal racial segregation in the armed forces was ended by President Truman in 1948 and from Fairley’s listing it appears that his opportunities may have expanded over the years to include other duties and responsibilities.

.

Nevertheless, it appears that he took great pride in his position in food preparation and as cook, baker pantry man and butcher. Many of the ‘everyday’ images that you mention, Kate, look like they are representations of some of the meals and dishes that he prepared in the service. One of my favorite images is ‘Stuffed tomatoes Salads w/ Russian Dressing’ (Image 20).

Image 20 – Stuffed Tomatoes Salads w/Russian Dressing

It must have been a meal for officers because it includes “Baked Stuffed Potatoes with grated cheese” and “Fillet Mignon Steaks with mushrooms.”

.

Other drawings illustrate complete table settings. Image 21 is a drawing of a table draped with two American flags, set with a variety of dishes and a centerpiece of flowers. A title in the decorative border reads “On the Fan Tail” and “Buffet Operations.” The description below the drawing reads “Menu, O’Durs (sic) Meat Balls, Spinach Noodles, Grape Punch, Stuffed Cantaloupe Halves and a Center piece.” (If you google “On the Fan Tail” one of the first results is the site for the USS Intrepid Museum and a photo of a table on the rear deck of the ship with the caption: “Begin your event on Intrepid’s Fantail, located at the westernmost point of the ship. It is an ideal setting for outdoor cocktails before moving upstairs to the Great Hall for dinner.”)

Image 21

Another of Curtis’ decorative food illustrations is of a platter of Blue Fish (literally) “Baked Japan Style” (Image 22). This image is striking in its simplicity and bold colors.

Image 22 – Baked Japan Style

All three of these drawings (Images 19, 20 and 21) are done on the backs of found computer paper – the perforated edge, green and white striped kind that was common at that time.

.

Another drawing reveals Fairley’s knowledge and experience in food preparation. Image 23 shows two colorful cuts of meat, along with detail sketches of blue government inspection stamps, cutting knives and a meat hook. Notes on the drawing offer helpful details like “Cut across the grain after cooked” and “2% fats – use for flavor.”

Image 23

Some of the most powerful of these ‘Everyday in the Navy’ images are of isolated objects or symbols that seem to have a special meaning to Curtis.

.

One example is a drawing of a cracked ship’s bell positioned above a strange rendering of a ship’s wheel (Image 24). The two terracotta colored graphic shapes are isolated against a coral-colored background with a decorative border. A lever or control of some kind floats to the right of the wheel. The text on the images is carefully placed in outlined white boxes or arranged against the coral backdrop. The cryptic question posed within the text boxes reads: “Who shine the bell off duites (sic) – while the bell crack was crack?” Under the image of the bell is the label, “U.S.N. Bridge.” The words “ON – Bridge” are written next to the ship’s wheel. At the bottom of the page in parentheses is the inscription: “(Change the Days and Time).”

Image 24 – Change the Days and Time

It’s hard not to conclude that this drawing is meant to convey a symbolic or allegorical meaning beyond the obvious words and images. I would love to hear possible interpretations from your readers, Kate.

Image 25

Image 26 – A Ship’s Compass

Image 27 – Engine Order Telegraph

Image 25 shows a drawing of what I have interpreted to be either a ship’s compass (Image 26) or an ‘engine order telegraph’ (Image 27). Notes written around the image list various engine orders: “Full Speed Ahead, Full Speed Back” as well as names of oceans: “Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Artic.” Some of the notes give information about Curtis’ experiences: “The longest at sea – Six months, The shortest – 2 hours.” A descriptive/poetic note appears at the top of the drawing: “When ship gets lose (sic) what Happen – The Navigator shoot the moon or sun and fine (sic) his true courses.”

.

There are drawings that don’t seem to be directly connected to Curtis’ Navy life. Some of these are images of places where he may have lived or traveled. Two striking images from the travel drawings are of highways: the Santa Anna freeway (Image 28) and a highway through the Florida Everglades (Image 29). In both drawings Landry uses the full width of his paper so that the roadways stretch across the page and careen off either end.

Image 28 – St Anna Freeway

Image 29 – Florida Everglades

The Santa Ana Freeway (Clayton labels it “St Anna Freeway”) in Fairley’s drawing is interrupted only by ‘trouble’ signs and light posts. In semi-circular landscaped areas on either side of the highway are a few lonely tulips or daffodils.

.

The image of the Florida Everglades roadway is busy with all kinds of creatures crossing the lanes in the median and on the shoulder. Serpent shaped creatures with many legs (alligators?) wander across the roadway and a small creature like a miniature tank (armadillo?) appears on the grassy median and shoulder. Two ominous dark structures appear to be giant gas pumps loom over the lanes in either direction. The pumps have signs reading “Last Change.” I’m not sure if this was meant to be ‘Last Chance’ but either way I think a driver would get the point.

.

Regarding the last part of your question, Kate, about whether Fairley recorded everything he saw or if he focused more on images that were important to his life, I think I would choose the latter as the motivation for his artwork. For instance there are very few drawings that depict the Manhattan streets where Curtis was living at the time that I knew him. The scenes and subjects of his artwork were largely drawn from his Navy life and must have represented his most memorable and meaningful life experiences. In depicting some of those experiences, as in the drawing of the cracked bell and the ship’s wheel, he sometimes seems to hint at deeper meanings and interpretations.

.

Click here to read more posts about Curtis’ life and work.

May 23, 2018
Curtis Fairley: Life in the Navy

This is the second part in a series focusing on the work of Curtis Fairley through an interview with George Lawrence. This post looks in detail at Fairley’s insightful interpretations of his life in the US Navy.

3. Fairley and the naval works

Kate Davey: Fairley’s work expands across a range of subject matter – from images of food preparation and recipes, to animals and nature, to inventions, but perhaps his most intriguing work is that which relates to his life in the US Navy. His depictions of life in the Navy, including submarine bases, Navy ships, self-portraits in uniform, and specific Naval missions are fascinating both from an aesthetic and historical perspective. Unlike many of the most well-known outsider artists, for example Madge Gill, Martin Ramirez or Henry Darger, Fairley doesn’t conjure a new reality with his work. Instead, his work is almost a rigorous documentation of a certain period in his life. You’ve done some research into his ‘Navy’ works, could you tell us a bit more about what you have discovered during this research, and share with us some of your insight into these interesting pieces?

.

George Lawrence: You’re right Kate – it seems that Fairley’s time in the Navy carved the memories that were the most vivid in his mind. He was able to put them down on paper many years later with amazing detail.

.

I am not an expert on the US Navy, but as I said earlier, I was able to obtain Fairley’s naval service record from Freedom of Information Act documents. It shows that he entered the Navy at Birmingham, Alabama in December of 1945. He would have just turned 18 years old. World War II had just ended in August of that year. From that date, he served a total of 31 years, from 1945 to 1966 in active duty, and then from 1966 to 1976 in the Naval Reserve. It makes sense that the Navy experience would have been the central subject of his “memory drawings.”

.

Fairley’s rank is listed as “MS1” which stands for “Mess Attendant Specialist Petty Officer First Class.” Among the decorations and awards listed in his record are the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Vietnam), The World War II Victory Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal.

.

Two of the drawings are self-portraits in Navy uniform. In both drawings Fairley’s uniform shows the three red chevrons on the right arm that indicate ‘Petty Officer First Class.’ The ‘SP’ on the hat and left armband indicate that he was assigned to ‘Shore Patrol’ duty.

Image 6 – Curtis Fairley, Self Portrait

In Image 6 Fairley lists some of the duties associated with the Shore Patrol position. (note: Fairley often uses the word “and” for “a”)

.

“Never strike and mate on his head.

Never sky larking

Always walk in pairs

No drinking alcohol

Never use hand cuffs on and mate

45 pistol std (starboard) side… nite stick on port side”

Image 7 – Curtis Fairley, Self Portrait

Image 7 has some humorous and informative notes about his demanding job as a mess attendant, posed in a question-answer form.

.

“How many mates did you starve aboard ship during the war? Ans (answer) – None.

What was the largest amount you cook for? – 1,100

Small amount? –25

The medium amount? – 150”

.

These two drawings demonstrate the amount of information and historical detail that can be gleaned from many of Curtis Fairley’s sketches. I’m sure that someone with a more thorough knowledge of the Navy would find details that I have missed.

.

From 1945 to 1966 Landry served on 11 different ships according to the notes in his drawings. I was able to identify eight of them from his naval record – four aircraft carriers: USS Philippine Sea, USS Leyte, USS Kearsarge and USS Sicily; one submarine tender, USS Gilmore; two guided missile cruisers, USS Providence and USS Topeka; and one destroyer tender, USS Frontier. His longest posting was with the USS Gilmore from 1950 to 1957.

Image 8 – Curtis Fairley, USS Philippine Sea

Fairley’s initial assignment in 1947 was aboard the aircraft carrier USS Philippine Sea whose first mission was as part of a major expedition to Antarctica called ‘Operation Highjump.’ Image 8 may be his drawing of that aircraft carrier because of the notes at the top of the drawing that read ‘Plank Owner’ and ‘Holy Stone Ship.’ The naval term ‘Plank Owner’ indicates that Fairley was a member of the first crew aboard a newly commissioned ship (USS Philippine Sea was commissioned in 1946) and ‘Holy Stone Ship’ is a term for a ship with a wooden (teak) deck. Apparently most US Navy WWII aircraft carriers were still being built with wooden decks.

.

Other notes on the drawing include a listing of the oceans that he has crossed:

.

“Paciffic (sic) 5 years, Atlantic 2 years, Arctic, An Arctic (sic), Indian.”

.

And the destination of Operation Highjump: “South Pole Operations, Little America”

The circumstances surrounding “Operation Highjump” deserve a mention. One year after the end of the Second World War, thirteen Navy ships, multiple aircraft and 4,700 men took part in a US Navy expedition to Antarctica led by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. The official objectives of the mission included establishing an Antarctic research base, testing equipment in frigid conditions, and extending US sovereignty over the Antarctic continent. However, a quick internet search will reveal a wealth of websites that put forth theories of more sinister objectives, involving everything from hunting down a secret Nazi military base to UFO sightings and encounters with flying saucers!

.

Unfortunately, none of Fairley’s drawings offer clues to these mysteries. However, one drawing (Image 9) illustrates an interesting initiation ceremony that took place on board when the USS Philippine Sea crossed the equator en route to Antarctica.

Image 9 – Curtis Fairley, Crossing the Equator

Fairley illustrates the ceremony with lots of explanatory notes in the margins. Sailors who had never crossed the equator were considered ‘Polywogs’ and had to undergo a day-long ordeal in order to become ‘Shell Backs.’ The Polywogs in the center, wearing only their underwear, are on an area of the deck bearing the note “oil on deck.” The Shell Backs, in uniform, form a whipping line on either side. A note next to one Shell Back reads “wipping (sic) bags stuffed with sand.”

.

Fairley gives a description of the day’s events for the unfortunate Polywogs

(note: spelling is as written):

.

“Menu-none, No Eating, No Drinking, No Skylarking, No Smokeing, No Sick Bay – Starts at sun rises until sun sets – Do none of the things above – Uniform of today, drawers, bottoms –

No.1 Elevator departing to the wipping line – En route to the South Pole via Panama Canal locks.”

.

The text at the center of the drawing describes the expedition:

.

“Equator Lines, One half of the world to the bottom, Adm Byrd expedition en route to the South Pole now name Little America-History, On board U.S.S. Philippine Sea.” The tank filled with green water at the top right is labeled “Body Cooling Systems.”

.

From this dramatic entry into Navy life, Mr. Fairley proceeded to serve on a succession of Navy ships. Some of them found their way into his drawings.

Image 10 – Curtis Fairley, USS Gilmore Pick Up Pilot Down the Mississippi River

Image 10 has the title ‘USS Gilmore Pick Up Pilot Down the Mississippi River.’ The USS Gilmore was a Submarine Tender, a type of ship that supplies and supports submarines. Landry was a crewman on this ship for 7 years. Not surprisingly a number of the drawings illustrate this involvement with the submarine force. Titled ‘Home of Sub Force, Groton, Conn,’ image 11 shows the bay with what looks like two subs docked and one in a kind of dry-dock. Mr. Fairley must have spent some time in the area because he also created drawings of two of the nearby landmarks.

Image 11 – Curtis Fairley, Home of the Sub Force Groton Conn

I was able to identify Fairley’s memory drawing of a lighthouse as the Avery Point Lighthouse (Image 12) because the drawing captures the characteristics well enough that recognized it in a photo that I found of the actual lighthouse, still standing on Avery Point in Groton (Image 13). The mysterious eclipsing sun that he added to the scene appears in several of his drawings. It was also easy to identify the Escape Training Tower at Groton from Fairley’s simple sketch (Image 14). The tower was in use from 1930 to 1994 to train scuba divers to access or egress a submarine during special operations (Image 15). The tower has since been demolished.

Image 12 – Curtis Fairley’s Lighthouse

Image 13 – Avery Point Lighthouse

Image 14 – Curtis Fairley, Groton Conn

Image 15 – Escape Training Tower

Recently in my research I discovered that two of the ships, the USS Providence and the USS Topeka were equipped to fire surface-to-air missiles. Landry served on those ships during the Vietnam War, from 1959 until 1965. Looking back, I think this explains one of my in-person encounters with Mr. Fairley.

.

Seeing him at work on the street one day, I noticed that he was intent on a drawing that a first glance seemed abstract – fiercely drawn with intense strokes – blendings of red, yellow and black. Looking closer I saw that the drawing was of a missile firing as if viewed from above. It was difficult to imagine how that point of view would have been possible. The following day I happened to see him again. He had produced another drawing that was almost identical to the first powerful image, as if he was still immersed in his memory of the event (Images 16 and 17).

.

Not long ago I came across the photo in image 18 of the firing of a Tomahawk missile from the deck of the USS Farragut. The similarities to Fairley’s drawing are remarkable, including the circular red markings on the deck indicating the missile area.

Image 16 – Curtis Fairley, Missile Firing 1

Image 17 – Curtis Fairley, Missile Firing 2

Image 18 – Missile Firing

Click here to read further posts about Curtis’ life and work.

May 16, 2018
Introducing Curtis Fairley

In a new series on the blog, I will be asking George Lawrence about his collection of artwork created by a homeless U.S. Navy veteran whom he met whilst living and working in New York City. Lawrence has recently been delving deeper into the works he purchased from the artist in the late 1980’s, and into the life of the artist himself, by studying the biographical information included in the images and text of the drawings.
.
Lawrence has discovered the identity of the artist through public naval records but has not been able to locate or contact the man, who would be over 90 years old if he is still living.

.

This first post will introduce Lawrence’s interactions with Fairley, with subsequent posts looking in more detail at the content and style of Fairley’s work.

1. Meeting Curtis Fairley

Kate Davey: Could you tell me about the first time you saw Curtis’ work? What was the initial impact it had on you?

.

George Lawrence: I first encountered Curtis Fairley around 1987 on the Lower East Side of New York City. I was working as a draftsman in a design office nearby. That area of the Bowery in the late 1980’s was a mix of neglected properties, Lower East Side art scene, and encroaching gentrification. Many of the local buildings were being bought and renovated by small businesses, artists and speculators. Nearby was a homeless shelter and a few blocks away was the rock club, CBGB’s.

.

At the time I met him, Mr. Fairley was living at the shelter, but he spent his days writing and drawing, using the windshield or hood of a parked car as a drawing board. He worked with the regularity and commitment of a full-time employee. He was African-American, probably in his sixties and usually dressed in khaki pants and shirt and a knit cap.

Image 1 – 317 Bowery, NYC, The Men’s Shelter building on the right, next to the old Amato Opera Building. (Photo grab from Google Earth Street View, circa 2015)

Mr. Fairley used pencil, chalk, colored pencil and crayon on paper that he collected from the neighborhood trash. He often drew on both sides of his pages. Some of the drawings were done on the green and white striped computer paper that was then the standard. Other drawings were sketched on the backs of discarded business letters.

.

I have always had a love for the work of folk artists and self-taught artists, so when I saw Mr. Fairley’s drawings I was fascinated by them and thought I recognized the raw work of a true ‘outsider artist,’ although I can’t recall if I knew that term at the time. I had taken some art classes and art history courses as part of my architectural degree and several of my friends were artists trying to find their place in the Lower East Side art scene. Mr. Fairley’s drawings had a quality of uninhibited originality that I didn’t see or feel in the more studied and self-conscious art I saw in the galleries. Coincidentally, I had recently been living in Brooklyn where my Puerto Rican landlord spent his spare time making art, using leftover house paint and scraps of Masonite. He would hang the paintings, which also looked like scenes from his childhood in Puerto Rico, in the hallways of the small apartment building. I admired in them the same vibrant, raw quality that I later saw in Mr. Fairley’s work.

.

Over the course of a year or so I purchased about 50 drawings from Mr. Fairley and periodically I offered him paper and colored pencils, which he graciously accepted but did not seem to need. “I can find all the paper I need,” he told me. The drawings are illustrations of memories from his life. Common subjects include a variety of Navy ships, submarines, details of daily life, illustrated recipes, animals, exotic destinations and curious inventions. I was amazed by the intricacy of the illustrations and the detailed descriptive notes on many of the drawings.

Image 2 – One of Fairley’s ship drawings – titled ‘Knock Abouts’ at the top of the drawing. I think this may be a fantasty drawing and not a representation of an actual ship. The horizon is labelled as the ‘Equator Line’ and word balloons hold the names of seas and oceans. From my research ‘knock abouts’ is a term for a small sailboat that could be handled by one person. I’m not sure why he would have applied the term to this image of a large complex ship.

Image 3 – One of the first drawings I purchased from Fairley. This one is titled ‘Knotsberry (sic) Farms’ in the decorative border below. It features a chicken perched in a tree, surrounded on the grass below by chicks hatching out of eggs. A border below the tree reads ‘Oh! Oh! What Happen.’ Knot’s Berry Farm is an amusement park that still exists in Buena Park, California. In a search on the web I found a comment thread with people reminiscing about the chickens that used to run loose on the grounds of the Knott’s Berry Farm restaurant in the 1960s.

I think that on some level I envied Mr. Fairley’s artistic spontaneity and his innate urge to draw whatever came into his mind. Of course I have no idea if that is how he experienced his life and I don’t assume to understand or diminish what he must have gone through, living on the street. Our conversations never progressed beyond a few halting sentences and I never felt comfortable enough to discuss with him how he had come to be homeless. There was, at the time, a movement to show the work of homeless artists at some of the local galleries, so I asked Mr. Fairley if he would be interested in showing his work. As I recall, he shook his head and said something like: “This is not art, these are just my memories.”

2. Fairley and the intermediate years

KD: When was the last time you can remember seeing Curtis in person?

.

GL: I don’t recall the last time I saw Mr. Fairley on the street outside my workplace. It would have been sometime in 1989. Over the course of a few days or weeks I noticed his absence. Someone told me that the nearby homeless shelter had been closed and was undergoing renovations. I assumed that the residents had moved to another shelter, but I never went so far as to investigate where in the city the other shelter might be, or what had become of Mr. Fairley.

.

Around the same time that I lost track of Mr. Fairley, I had begun to make plans to leave New York. Much of my activity outside of work revolved around advocacy work with environmental groups in the city. A friend connected me with a group who were planning a coast to coast walk across the United States called the Global Walk for Livable World. I began to attend the local meetings and decided to participate in the walk as a way of leaving New York and discovering a new “path” for myself. So I quit my job, and in February of 1990 I flew to Los Angeles and, with about 100 other activists, began a nine-month walk back to New York. We walked mainly along state highways and camped in tents at sites ranging from college campuses to state parks to private farms. We coordinated as much as possible with local environmental groups along the way to hold public events highlighting the challenges to the environment specific to that community, along with promoting environmentally sustainable choices and lifestyles.

Image 4 – George walking through Albuquerque, New Mexico on the Global Walk for a Livable World, April 1990.

One of our stops along the way was Santa Fe, New Mexico. We were in Santa Fe for a few days for the celebration of “Earth Day 1990” and during the visit I decided that I would like to relocate there at the end of the walk. After the amazing experience of the 3,000 mile trek, I walked into New York City at the end of October 1990. Shortly after arriving, I packed up my belongings, including Curtis’ drawings, and moved to New Mexico.

.

Upon my arrival in Santa Fe, I made a conscious choice to shift my career direction and began to promote myself as an architectural illustrator. In hindsight I wonder if my impressions of Curtis doing his detailed drawings may have had an influence on my decision. In 1996 I began work with a local exhibit design firm where I was able to employ my design skills, my illustration work, and my interest in the environment, for the design and construction of interpretive exhibits for state parks and visitor centers across the country.

Image 5 – A pen and ink drawing of the Santa Fe Plaza drawn by George in 1998

Often, on meeting someone who I thought would be interested, I would share the folder of Curtis Fairley drawings. Many people over the years suggested that they would make an interesting exhibit or even a book, considering the connections to a variety of compelling issues, including the African American experience in the military, homelessness and of course, outsider art.

.

In 1997 one of my friends in New York who had seen my collection called to say that he had seen Curtis’ name listed in an exhibition at an outsider art gallery in New York. The description, which had slightly misspelled his real name, described the exhibition as “Discovering the eccentric drawings of a lost New York Outsider Artist.” I tried at the time to make contact with the gallery but after leaving a few messages I failed to connect with anyone. Over the next few years I checked the internet periodically to see if Mr. Fairley’s name had appeared elsewhere. There are two other listings that I found, one for a 2011 Art Brut group show at Halle St. Pierre in Paris and another listing of a piece in the Smithsonian Art Library. This indicated to me that other people had been collecting Mr. Fairley’s work, probably in the same way that I had, by approaching him on the street.

.

In 2013 I decided to put some real effort into uncovering more information about Mr. Fairley’s life. Many of the drawings are of Navy ships and scenes and have descriptive notes written across the pages and in the margins. I made notes from the drawings and sent the information to a website that offered to research and provide the public military records of armed forces veterans. For several months the researcher had no luck in locating Mr. Fairley’s name on any of the records from the ships I had listed. In the meantime I had been searching the military records available on Ancestry.com and I came across a very similar name on the “muster rolls” of a few of ships that Curtis had included in his drawings. I discovered that we had omitted one letter from the spelling of his (actual) last name. Once I was able to give the researcher the correct spelling, he was able to find and provide me with the military record through the Freedom of Information Act.

.

I then went back to the web and, using the correct spelling of the name, I was able to discover one more reference. Apparently an artist who had a studio on the Lower East Side had purchased some drawings from Curtis and had included a reference and a print of one of the drawings in an article published in an online art magazine in January of 1987. In the article the writer describes Curtis just as I remember him, “drawing on cars.” “He has no studio or home but when it is sunny and he is drawing, there is nothing wrong in the world.”

.

Even with all the information I have discovered about Mr. Fairley, I have been unable to contact him or to determine if he is still living. If he is, he will be 91 years old in 2018.

.

Click here to read the next three instalments about Curtis’ life and work.

May 9, 2018
Artist Showcase: Lucy Namayanja Agatha

This artist showcase focuses on Lucy Namayanja Agatha’s nature inspired work. If you would like a showcase of your work, please email kdoutsiderart@yahoo.com.

The Big Eyes

When did your interest in art/creating begin?

I have been creative all my life, with nature and drawing. Although growing up in Uganda I was not exposed to art. I was seeing chaos and order everywhere, despite all, I lived with joy, beauty and peace around me and within my self. I was grounded with nature, but I was also questioning my surroundings, life, death and seeking God.

I then started referencing things to art. Smiles, laughter, dancing, different body shapes, how people moved and spoke. This included animals and plants. I spent a lot of time playing in nature, I used to spend hours observing ants and other insects with their rich colours, how they lived, played and communicated.

When I applied for my first passport, I was asked to state my profession. As I did not have one at the time, having just finished my A levels, I suddenly out of the blue said “Artist”. Little knowing those years later I would be creating art.

The Floating Eyes

What is your starting point for each piece?

The starting point is with myself, my body, the internal, external, nature and the world around me, I also sketch on paper and digital, then I transfer to canvas, using oil paints straight from the tube, later adding found objects and dried insects.

Silent Screams

Who/what influences your work?

Myself, inner and outer beauty, my life experiences, children and nature.

Intangible Life

What do you hope the viewer gets from your work?

I expect the viewer to see my true self and for them to find them selves in the work as part of humanity.

And Then We Sleep

What do you think about the term outsider art? Is there a term that you think works better?

I think of the term Outsider Art as, ‘One belonging to oneself and fate.’

The Small Tent

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working on an art video, painting self-portraits and organising sculptures.

The Ant Colony

Where do you see your work taking you in the future?

My art takes me in a direction that I cannot foresee other than by following it. The same way I follow the beauty of nature and life, I am glad to be painting now.

To find out more about Lucy’s work, please click here.

April 25, 2018
Artist Showcase: Joe Cook

Almost six years ago, artist Joe Cook appeared on kdoutsiderart for the first time. In this artist showcase, Joe shares his new body of work. Joe says:

This new body of work is a direct continuation of my previous illustration work. My brief was to create a diverse range of characters in a far away land, living a life of heroic adventure and intrigue. I took direct influence from Henry Matisse, amongst others. The shapes and colours he created in his cut-out era feel exotic and foreign to me and I tried to employ those curves and free flowing lines where I could. Similarly, where there is action in my drawings there is also naivety and an unapologetic (David Shrigley-like?) quality to the movement. I scoured photos from the internet and national geographic back editions for real life examples of everyday folk lost in their endeavours in far tropical lands. Ultimately I tried to be honest in what I saw and how I adapted that to paper. The drawings are primarily pencil and ink and don’t always follow the tried and tested rules on how illustrations should look, feel and move.

Joe Cook, Boy

Joe Cook, Elelele

Joe Cook, Eyez

Joe Cook, Candle Man

Joe Cook, The Stone

Joe Cook, Captainas Fishermanas

Joe Cook, Black Coat Eating

To see Joe Cook’s previous artist showcase, please click here.

If you are an artist and would like your work showcased on the blog, please email kdoutsiderart@yahoo.com.

April 11, 2018