June 19 2020 #169
Art Brut Global Phase II: New Discoveries
The second phase of Art Brut Global is now live from June 18 – July 10, presented by the Outsider Art Fair.
New Discoveries, the second of a three-part project, features works by fifty-two international artists, all of whom have been introduced to the field within the last three years. Artworks can be seen by registering to enter their online 'viewing room'.
See pieces from a selection of Art Brut Global artists previously featured in Raw Vision magazine:
War! (Война!), 2018, acrylic thread on cloth, 45 x 55 in. / 115 x 140 cm, The Gallery of Everything, courtesy: Olga Frantskevich
Olga Frantskevich, featured in Raw Vision #103, was born in the USSR in 1937. When she was seven, she witnessed her father being executed by German forces. She spent much of her childhood hiding in a forest. On liberation, in 1944, saw dead bodies hanging from the gallows and littering the deserted streets of her village.
Text: Katy Hessel and Rebecca Gremmo
Untitled, Samaneh Atef, n.d., pen on paper, 8 x12 in. / 20 x 30 cm
Samaneh Atef, featured in Raw Vision #105, was born in 1989 in Bandar Abbas, Iran. She now lives in Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh in the north near the Caspian Sea. The image of a strong female figure is at the core of Samaneh Atef’s work. An intense, emotionally charged being, this eternal image of femaleness seems to be coextensive with the world. Atef’s woman adopts different guises: fighter to victim, child to mother, human to daemon.
Text: Colin Rhodes
Untitled Portraits, Weree, 2010/2011, mixed media on paper, 19.7 x 12.8 in. / 50 x 32.5 cm
Johnson Weree, featured in Raw Vision #81, was born in 1970 in Liberia. He draws every single day, from early morning until late at night—usually busts of staring men and women. Short, deep-coloured dark hair drawn in three layers of ballpoint: red, blue and black. Small, expressionless eyes with sharply defined pupils in the shimmering whites of the eyes, a dog’s nose with black nostrils at the end of a long-bridged nose, an abnormally wide mouth with compressed lips. The staring pupils are like flamed glass marbles, in two, sometimes three colours. The women are decorated with red blushes or painted beauty spots.
Text: Frans Smolders
Untitled, Itsuo Kobayashi, 1982/89, ink on paper, 11 x 17.32 in. / 28 x 44 cm
Itsuo Kobayashi, featured in Raw Vision #100, was born in 1962 in Japan. Outsider artist and professionally trained cook, he has been documenting every single meal he eats for the past 32 years, filling notebook after notebook with boldly detailed drawings.
Visit outsiderartfair.com for more information.
St. EOM at High Museum of Art
To celebrate Pride month, The High Museum of Art has dedicated their monthly collection highlight to Eddie Owen Martin (otherwise known as St. EOM), the creator of Pasaquan, Georgia. St. EOM (1908–1986) was inspired by a spirit to create a religion called Pasaquoyanism and construct a utopian, brightly coloured environment.
"'Pasaquoyan Man with Ritual Headdress and Levitation Suit' by Eddie Owens Martin (St. EOM)", HighMuseum
Growing up gay in the American South with a violent alcoholic father and suffering sexual abuse at the hands of older boys at school, St. EOM would run away after school and find solace in the black community of Glen Alta; the liveliness, music and dance uplifted him, in stark contrast to the coldness and cruelty he experienced at home. At fourteen, he ran away to New York where he became a sex worker to survive. He was drawn to New York's art galleries and museums, and art became his refuge.
Photograph by Mike Colletta
In 1957, after the death of his parents, he inherited their small farmhouse. Even though his family was gone, he still felt out of place, and began constructing Pasaquan on the seven acres of land he now possessed.
Edwin Stephens, a road construction worker, helped in creating Pasaquan as he had skills in building structures which St. EOM lacked. They became romantic partners.
Photo by Tamma Smith
In 1982, St. EOM had double bypass surgery; following the surgery, he was plagued with insomnia and a deep depression. Four years later, in 1986, he took his own life.
Pasaquan is now under the ownership of Columbus State University.
Photo by Tamma Smith
To learn more, read The High Museum's article, this excellent profile from The Local (a magazine of art and music in the Columbus community) and view Pasaquan's timeline in Columbus State University's digital archives.
St. EOM's Pasaquan was featured in Raw Vision #19, and details of preservation efforts are in Raw Vision #83 (our 3D edition!)
Mr Imagination: Kentuck Black artists
Kentuck Art Center continues to promote Black voices in their permanent collection; read all of Kentuck's blog posts featuring the Black artists, including their profile of Gregory Warmack, better known as Mr. Imagination.
Mr. Imagination at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts; year unknown.
"Gregory Warmack used everyday, cast-off materials to explore themes of self identity, immortality, and Black pride. He was the third of nine children who grew up in one of the poorest parts of Chicago. He credited his mother for recognizing and encouraging his creativity at a young age—by his teens, he was making found object jewelry and carving bits of bark into faces."
"During his life, Mr. Imagination became one of the most famous self-taught artists in the world. In addition to dozens of exhibitions both national and international, his work resides in the collections of the American Visionary Museum in Baltimore, MD; The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; the Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY and other institutions."
Give Kentuck Art Center your support to help them continue to promote deserving Black artists.
Mr. Imagination was featured in Raw Vision #24 and Raw Vision #76.
Carlo Keshishian: Art in quarantine
Artist Carlo Keshishian creates intricately detailed pieces, often made up of words and letters that form an indistinguishable pattern from a distance but reveal themselves up close, and lines that almost resemble a topographical map of an impossible landscape or the inner rings of a fantastical tree. We caught up with Keshishian to hear about how working in a COVID-19 world has affected him.
Keshishian with mood pool, 2020, 6ft x 6ft
"Currently, my days, as before, involve the incremental recording of time. I am writing/drawing into a diary page born December 12th, 2019, and continuing the development of a sort of 'mood pool' painting that began its manifestation also in 2019, though I'd need to trudge through my previous diaries in order to identify an exact date."
Cross section showing Keshishian's 'mood pool' showing 2019 to 2020 progress
"My process to both is very similar. There is an irony in that I seek balance from indulging in these addictive processes. The outcomes contain embedded meaning, one that is communicated through text turned texture, and the other, whilst containing all the same nuances of thought, is brought out more viscerally."
Cross section showing Keshishian's 'mood pool' showing 2019 to 2020 progress
"I believe the A4 diary page in my usual 'bubble text' to be approaching 20,000 words. The 'mood pool' is channeled differently."
Diary by Keshishian, A4 paper, December 2019 to June 2020 progress
Diary by Keshishian, A4 paper, December 2019 to June 2020, bubble letters in detail
"Aside from these on-going works in progress, I recently felt an urgency to sequence a mix with powerful and relevant recordings from my record collection, bringing me out of hiatus regarding the 'Jazz'-focussed radio show I've run for seven or so years, which I've taken a break from since last December. "
You can hear this mix for free on mixcloud.
See more of his work on his website, and in his profiles on Outside In and the Jennifer Lauren Gallery.
Keshishian was featured in an article by David Maclagan, published in Raw Vision #86.
Our Summer Sale continues!
Our half price back catalogue summer sale continues! Carlo Keshishian was featured in Raw Vision #86, currently half price.
For orders of 10+ issues please email info@rawvision.com for a reduced postage cost.
Raw Vision 105 out now
This new downloadable PDF version of the Environments section of the renowned Outsider Art Sourcebook, featuring key texts, timeline and bibliography on Outsider Art as well as listings for galleries, studios, websites & organizations. It is available to purchase now for $10 | £7 | €10