June 12 2020 #168
Félix Arranz Pinto: Obituary
Félix Arranz Pinto, self-taught artist and creator of the Parque Mudéjar in Olmedo, Spain, died on April 2, 2020 from the Coronavirus, only three days after laying down his tools and entering the hospital. He was 86 years old.
Félix Arranz Pinto in front of his miniature Coca Castle. Photo © Jo Farb Hernández, August 15, 2018
Spain’s region of Castilla y León, the heart of the kingdom of Old Castile, retains numerous examples of Mudéjar architecture, a unique style characterized by a fusion of Romanesque and Gothic elements with Islamic designs, which flourished during the 780-year period of Arab control over the Iberian Peninsula. When Spain was “reconquered” in 1492, the victorious Christian armies preserved many of these significant Muslim palaces, religious sites, and noble homes, and repossessed them for their own uses. In recent decades, several have been honored with UNESCO World Heritage status.
Scale model of the Coca Castle
In 1999, Arranz, long an admirer of this style, decided to create a park that would replicate miniature examples of Castilla y León’s Mudéjar architecture. Over the next decade, after traveling to each site and taking careful measurements, he experimented until he successfully developed ways to copy the Middle Age designs and building techniques, and he ultimately completed nineteen castles, houses, portals, and places of worship at scales of 1:6, 1:8, and 1:22. His intention was to recall the memory of a more tolerant age, when various cultures lived and worked together in relative harmony.
Scale model of the Puerta de Cantalapiedra
The Parque Mudéjar is now supported by the City of Olmedo.
Kentuck Art Center: Highlighting Black voices
Kentuck Art Center was founded in 1971 with a mission to perpetuate the arts, engage the community, and empower the artist. They have released a statement in honour of the Black Lives Matter movement, which we wish to echo:
"Art illustrates the stories of human experiences and existence on this earth. Art is what connects us – it has the power to educate, break down barriers, and give us hope for a more equitable future. "
Missionary Mary Proctor at the 48th Kentuck Festival of the Arts, 2019
"For 49 years, Kentuck has served as a hub for self-taught, visionary, and outsider artists – many of whom are marginalized, silenced, and often left out of the traditional narrative of American Art."
Lonnie Holley at his booth at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts. Year unknown. Courtesy of Kentuck's Archives.
"The southern United States, and Alabama specifically, has a rich cultural history of self-taught and traditional craft largely driven by Black communities. Kentuck Art Center is an advocate for these artists and is committed to bringing them to the forefront of our conversations about American Art."
"Joe's Coffee Shop" by Bernice Sims. Located in Kentuck's Permanent Collection.
"Kentuck Art Center is dedicating ten days of online content to the Black artists in our Permanent Collection. While Kentuck Art Center cannot address the full complexity and challenge of these issues on our own, we can gain perspective and a sense of purpose by listening to the voices of artists we are proud to have in our collection. Click here to learn more."
Learn more about Kentuck Art Center on their website (www.kentuck.org), read all of Kentuck's blog posts (so far) featuring the Black artists in their permanent collection, and explore the work of some of the artists the collection features: Missionary Mary Proctor, Lonnie Holley and Bernice Sims.
"Art is Life: Don't Kill It: A Profile of Lonnie Holley" (1998) Buffalo, New York: Seehausen Television, 47 min
Lonnie Holley was featured in Raw Vision #7, Missionary Mary Proctor was featured in Raw Vision #29.
Daniel Gonçalves: Work in quarantine
Daniel Gonçalves (b. 1977) is a self-taught artist from Porto, Portugal, who creates strikingly bold and playful artworks with an emphasis on intersecting shapes and lines of symmetry. He has been busy creating new pieces while in quarantine.
Untitled (#415, 2020), Gonçalves. Ink on paper, 30x30 cm
"Some form of isolation was already part of my life. As such, when the Portuguese government declared the State of Emergency and requested voluntary isolation due to the novel Coronavirus, it was not difficult for me to adapt to a new reality."
Untitled (#420, 2020), Gonçalves. Ink on paper, 35x35 cm
"During this period, the practice of drawing, which was already a constant, only intensified a little more because of the need to keep the mind occupied and gain some distance from the negative news that was coming through the media."
Untitled (#423, 2020), Gonçalves. Ink on paper, 30x30 cm
"With the city empty and all establishments closed, I began to be afraid of running out of available materials so, in the circumstance, I divided the paper into small formats focusing all the energy on black and white mandala-like-drawings on occasion including a little red. Some of these drawings will soon be included in an exhibition curated by Galeria Pol Lemetais."
Untitled (#440, 2020), Gonçalves. Ink on paper, 50x50 cm
Gonçalves was featured on our website and in Raw Vision #101, currently on sale in our online store.
See more of his work at the Henry Boxer Gallery and Jennifer Lauren Gallery.
Osservatorio Outsider Art n. 19
Video presentazione Osservatorio Outsider Art 19, Museo marionette A. Pasqualino
The latest issue of the journal Osservatorio Outsider Art is out now. It is devoted to a large extent to the rediscovery of mediumistic art, its role in surrealist poetics and its presence in Dubuffet’s collection. In addition to the best-known artists, less well known female artists are showcased, including the amazing and till now unpublished Marta Orecchioni.
Anime (Souls), Maria Orecchioni, between 2000 and 2010, markers on fabric, 50x70cm
There are also new discoveries in the other sections of the journal: the radiant pictorial irony of Giovanni Piazza, the cosmic message of the Sicilian ex-blacksmith Franco Cassarà, the graphic ideality of Costante Pezzani, a new documentary film on Filippo Bentivegna and an interesting look at the history of art brut that explores the intense relationships between Dubuffet and the Cuban artists.
foto n. 11, Jean Dubuffet, drawing dedicated "to the pioneering artists of the exciting art brut of Cuba", published in the Cuban magazine "Signos", n. 5, 1971
You can download the issue free from outsiderartsicilia.it, or purchase the printed copy on edizionimuseopasqualino.it
Explore their back catalogue here.
Corpus Christi Day, Cecilie Marková, 1966, oil on cardboard, 50x35cm
Short film - Jean Dubuffet: The Asylum
Watch a short video created by Independent British art establishment Helly Nahmad London about the sanatoriums and asylums that Dubuffet visited while in search of inspiration in 1945.
'Jean Dubuffet: The Asylum', Helly Nahmad London, 2015
Dubuffet coined the term “Art Brut,” for which he is most famous, after visiting places such as those recreated in Helly Nahmad's video.
Dubuffet was featured in: Raw Vision #17, #29, #50, #76, and #100.
All back issues are currently half price for a limited time only.
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