Major Nek Chand Show at Kohler

Nek Chand, untitled (standing sadhus), concrete, mineral pigment, ceramic shards, metal,
John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection

February 26 – June 4, 2017

Drawing on nearly 200 works from the Arts Center collection, site photos, and drawn surveys, John Michael Kohler Arts Center's The World in a Garden: Nek Chand explores the multifaceted nature of Nek Chand’s Rock Garden in Chandigargh, India. The exhibition includes Dr. Iain Jackson's scaled survey drawings of the garden as well as a book detailing more than 2,000 objects that Chand collected.

John Michael Kohler Arts Center
608 New York Ave, Sheboygan, WI 53081
www.jmkac.org

Michel Nedjar Retrospective opens at Lille

Michel Nedjar, untitled, wax and paint on paper marouflaged onto canvas, collection of the artist,
photo: N. Dewitte / LaM

until June 4, 2017

Michel Nedjar, Introspective is taking place at the LaM Lille Métropole until June. Nedjar is one of the founding members of the association L'Aracine which gave its collection of art brut to the LaM in 1999. This exhibition presents Nedjar's varied oeuvre: his mud and rag dolls, sculptures, drawings, paintings and experimental films, created between 1960 and 2016.

Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art
1 Allée du Musée, 59650 Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France
www.musee-lam.fr

Cross Country at the High Museum

Hale Woodruff

through May 7

Cross Country: The Power of Place in American Art, 1915–1950 explores how experiences of rural life changed the direction of American art. Organised in collaboration with the Brandywine River Museum of Art, the exhibition features nearly 200 artworks by trained and self-taught artists, modernists and regionalists. Featured artists include Thomas Hart Benton, Jacob Lawrence, Grandma Moses, Hale Woodruff, Bill Traylor and Ansel Adams.

High Museum of Art
1280 Peachtree Street, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30309
www.high.org

Valton Tyler at Amon Carter Museum, Texas

above left: Valton Tyler at work, photo: Edward M. Gómez
above right: Standing Still, oil on canvas, © Valton Tyler, Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden

through April 30, 2017

Invented Worlds of Valton Tyler, a new exhibition at the Amon Carter Museum in Forth Worth, Texas, focuses on the prints, drawings and paintings of an American self-taught artist who lives and works on the outskirts of nearby Dallas. Tyler, who is known for his visionary, otherworldly landscapes in oil on canvas, also produced a large suite of etchings; a selection is on view in this show. A catalogue has been published, and the show features an excerpt from the new film Valton Tyler: Flesh Is Fiction, by Raw Vision senior editor Edward M. Gómez and Chris Shields.

Amon Carter Museum
3501 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107
www.cartermuseum.org

Raw Vision 92 out now!

FEATURED ARTIST
August Walla (1936–2001)

One of Gugging’s most versatile artists, Walla painted, drew, etched, constructed objects from discarded recycled materials, wrote and took photographs to record his work, in a constant creative outpouring. In his powerful paintings, images of animals and people, together with religious, political and sexual symbols, are crammed together to fill the picture.

portrait: Collection de l’Art Brut
above: GRÜß GOTT, GABER HANSI MEIN.!, 1987, courtesy Sammlung Essl Privatstiftung

Woven among or on top of his symbols and images are pieces of text, often in different languages, revealing Walla’s obsession with words. Colour was also an essential means of expression, used to enhance the significance of his themes. He completely transformed the interior of his room at Gugging, covering the walls and ceiling with striking murals of figures, symbols, bold slogans and messages. He also painted his images on the exterior walls of the Haus der Künstler and placed objects around a small garden building, leaving them to decay, forming an organic, constantly changing environment.

August Walla is featured in our Outsider Art Sourcebook and in Raw Vision 75.

courtesy Collection de l’Art Brut