Burning Man at The Smithsonian, Washington

FoldHaus, Shrumen Lumen, 2016, photo by Rene Smith

until September 16, 2018 and January 21, 2019

Cutting-edge artwork created at Burning Man, the annual Black Rock City gathering that is one of the most influential events in contemporary art and culture, is exhibited in Washington for the first time this spring. "No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man" takes over the entire Renwick Gallery building, exploring the maker culture, ethos, principles and creative spirit of Burning Man. Artworks on the first floor will be on view through September 16 and artworks on the second floor through January 21.

THE RENWICK GALLERY OF THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM
Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W., Washington, DC 20006
americanart.si.edu

Marco Cochrane, Truth is Beauty, 2013, photo by Eleanor Preger

The California African American Museum Receives Significant Gift of Art from Gordon W. Bailey Collection

Sam Doyle

The California African American Museum (CAAM) has announced a significant gift of 32 artworks from collector, scholar, and advocate Gordon W. Bailey. The paintings, sculpture, and mixed media works that comprise Bailey’s gift to CAAM are by African American artists and include an important, circa-1980s work by the renowned, St. Helena, South Carolina artist Sam Doyle (1906–1985). Other noted artists represented in the gift are Leroy Almon, Hawkins Bolden, Roy Ferdinand, Robert Howell, “Missionary” Mary Proctor, Herbert Singleton, Georgia Speller, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, and Purvis Young.

California African American Museum
600 State Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90037​
caamuseum.org

Wisconsin Artists at Intuit, Chicago

Prophet William J. Blackmon

March 23 – June 17, 2018

"To Be Seen and Heard" brings attention to five Wisconsin artists: Prophet William J. Blackmon, Josephus Farmer, Simon Sparrow, Albert Zahn, and Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, with nearly 50 paintings, photographs, sculptures, and reliefs.

INTUIT: THE CENTER FOR INTUITIVE AND OUTSIDER ART
756 N Milwaukee Avenue Chicago, IL 60642
​www.art.org

Featured Artist:
Scottie Wilson (1888–1972)

Scottie Wilson (born Louis Freeman), was a near-illiterate Glaswegian junk dealer living in Canada. In the early 1930s, Wilson one day became captivated by a particularly fine gold-nibbed fountain pen. Feeling the compulsion to draw, he became intensively involved, drawing swirling sinister faces, organic forms and abstract patterns which he hatched and filled with ink.

Many of his pictures include central figures which he called his “Meanies” or “Greedies”. He surrounded many of them with contrasting natural images, particularly flowers and fish, using his linear technique. Some of his drawings are densely coloured, the designs filled with inks, surrounded by a vibrant background. Others are set against a white background and the colours are more muted. Wilson’s early drawings have a freer expressive line with few elements.

Untitled, c. 1946, courtesy Henry Boxer Gallery

His work gradually became more intricate, his line tight and controlled. In his later years his drawing became more decorative, with fewer motifs. In the 1950s, Wilson became very successful following his acceptance by London’s Surrealist set. He had several exhibitions and his work was collected by Picasso and André Breton, and Victor Musgrave included his drawings in his Outsider Archive collection.

Untitled, c.1946, courtesy Henry Boxer Gallery

Scottie Wilson is featured in our Outsider Art Sourcebook and Raw Vision 89 (both currently half price) and in the PDF version of Raw Vision 47.