brutjournal – outsider art • art brut • the unclassifiable • the avant-avant-garde

THIS IS THE PLACE FOR DISCOVERIES AND DISCUSSIONS OF THE MOST INVENTIVE ART FORMS – ALL KINDS OF ART THAT IS FAR-OUT, FANTASTIC, FREE-SPIRITED, FUN, FUNKY, PHENOMENAL AND GOOD FOR THE SOUL. (MAMA CALLED IT SUI GENERIS)
SUBSCRIBE, BABY. RIGHT NOW!

GOODBYE, WINTER. TA-TA! YOU WERE A COLD LOVER; YOUR KISSES AND EMBRACES WERE AS PASSIONATE AS A BIG BAG OF FROZEN PEAS IN A WALK-IN FREEZER, BUT WE ADMIRE YOU ALL THE SAME. OUR PSYCHOANALYSIS OF THE IRREPARABLE CONDITION OF YOUR CHILLY SOUL: YOUR IDEA OF FUN — ENDLESS DAYS OF SNOW AND ICY RAIN — IS A HOT MESS. BUT WE LOVE YOU IN A WAY THAT MAKES US RACE TO SLIP INTO OUR LONG JOHNS AND FUZZY SLIPPERS, AND TO DOWN BARRELS OF GOOD RED WINE. BYE-BYE-BABY. YOU’VE HAD YOUR MOMENT. NOW — YES! — SPRING HAS SPRUNG.

IN THIS ISSUE, DON'T MISS THESE FEATURES

Editor’s Letter

What the heck is brutjournal?
by Edward M. Gómez

Upstate New York

In the autumn of 2022, the artist Ryan Ward opened the Ruffed Grouse Gallery in Narrowsburg, a town located on the east bank of the Delaware River in upstate New York. Now, this painter of bold abstractions is bringing a selection of his gallery’s offerings to the Outsider Art Fair.

Geneva, Switzerland

At the café/restaurant Remor, the artist Emmanuel Herz’s festive, mysterious “Fascinantes Méduses” (“Fascinating Jellyfish”), a group of unusual mixed-media sculptures and related paintings, has taken over the elegant, old venue’s ceiling lamps and walls. Enchanting!
by Edward M. Gómez

Tokyo, Japan

The Austrian artist, photographer, and poet Roland Hagenberg recently presented an homage exhibition recalling the life and career of the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, whom he knew in New York in the 1980s. His interpretation of Basquiat’s legacy evokes the themes of the Passion of Christ.

WHAT’S THE BUZZ? DISPATCHES FROM THE 2024 OUTSIDER ART FAIR NEW YORK, THROUGH MARCH 3

The 2024 Outsider Art Fair New York offers an abundance of discoveries and revelations. The way to explore it is in depth, spending quality time chatting with dealers and other exhibitors, and with the many artists and collectors who turn up at this most distinctive of art fairs. A first dispatch from the big event. Free access.

SUSAN SPANGENBERG’S “ASYLUM DOLLS”: EMBLEMS OF STRUGGLE, ICONS OF SOUL

The artist Susan Spangenberg recalls: “I spent 30 years in and out of mental hospitals. I’d pull flyers off the walls, use my sheets and pillowcases, and steal crayons from a bad recreation group or a pen from the nursing station to express myself.” A lifetime of unfathomably challenging experiences has shaped Susan’s deeply personal art, like her “Asylum Dolls,” which are resonant with psychic power. Free access.

THIS GUY’S A CUTUP: THE ART OF PAUL PLUMADORE

Born and brought up in Massachusetts, Paul Plumadore studied dance at New York University in New York City and became a professional dancer; in 1976, he left the Paul Taylor Dance Company and became a visual artist. In time, he developed a passion for and his own approach to creating collage works. Here, a portfolio of Plumadore’s cur-paper handiwork.

OFF THE WALL: NEW YORK CITY STREET POETS AND VISIONARIES, THE GOLDSMITH COLLECTION

In the 1980s, Kenneth Goldsmith, a poet and university professor, began tearing off anonymously made, handwritten ads, religious-themed proclamations, and oddball declarations that he found posted on walls and lampposts on the streets of New York City. Now, a bemusing selection of such bizarre “poetry” is on exhibit at Andrew Edlin Gallery. Coming soon.

SWISS ART BRUT: HANS KRÜSI’S SPLENDID WORLD

The Swiss art brut creator Hans Krüsi (1920-1995) eked out a living selling flowers on one of Zürich’s most expensive shopping streets, where, in the early 1980s, an art dealer discovered his colorful, inventive drawings and paintings. Now, an exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Thurgau in northeastern Switzerland is showcasing Krüsi’s innovatve art-making techniques. Coming soon.

ARTIST RYAN WARD: FROM THE STUDIO TO THE GALLERY TO THE OUTSIDER ART FAIR

In the autumn of 2022, the artist Ryan Ward opened the Ruffed Grouse Gallery in Narrowsburg, a town on the east bank of the Delaware River in upstate New York. Now, this painter of bold abstractions has brought a selection of his gallery’s diverse offerings to the Outsider Art Fair, including Mose Tolliver paintings and carved-wood figures by David Tinsley.