Revelations And Reflections

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Thursday, September 11, 2003 Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Art: Revelations and reflections

By Gregory Crosby

Michael Finster’s “Lake of Hellfire on Brimstone”

Two thoughts come to mind while Viewing Revelations and Reflections of ‘American Self-Taught Artists, on display in UNLV's Marjorie Barrick Museum through Oct. 17. First, the talent, range and visionary power of artists now described under the rubric of "self-taught" and once referred to as "folk," "outsider" and "art brut" is not only remarkably vibrant and distinctive, but often more engaging and full-blooded than artists who've had the benefit of a graduate school education.

Secong, it's clear that without the Book of Revelation, the majority of these artists would have absolutely nothing to put on canvas, metal or wood. Move over, baby, there's a whole lotta apocalypse going on in these imaginations, sometimes to powerful or amusing effect, but often to the sort of mind-numbing didactic purposes that a tent-dwelling evangelist might use to bolster a weary crowd wilting in midsummer heat.

It's that second thought that renders many of these artists sociologically interesting but aesthetically predictable. The greatest charge to be had out of all these lakes of fire and numbered beasts is felt in total. Hanging together, many of these works give you the feeling of what it would have been like if pictorial Christianity had swung with the feverish, nightmarish hellscapes of Hieronymous Bosch rather than all those sensuous Italians. The specifically End of Days imaginations on view in paintings like Michael Finster's "Lake of Hellfire on Brimstone," Myrtice West's "White Throne Judgment," Frank Bruno's "The Man, From Hell” and William Thomas Thompson's “The Sea Beast of Revelation” (which resembles a child's painting of Japanese movie monster King Ghidorah) ive a glimpse at what the art of the Reformation might have been like if a Baptist from Georgia had gotten the ball rolling instead of that dour, image-hating John Calvin. Viewed thus, the bulk of the show offers a alimpse of a parallel universe where the Book of Revelation is pretty much the only scripture that survived.

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The reasons for this are simple. As Stephen King once remarked about Tolkien, "He's a lot better at evoking the dread of Mordor than the goodness of Gandalf.” Hell, as usual, is a lot more fun to depict than heaven, and devils are always more fascinating than Jesus (who only has a few odd cameos in this show), though a few artists pitch the sweetness of salvation rather than the terror of damnation: Wanda Tee!'s joyous uplifting hands in "T'l Fly Away Some Day," Mary Proctor's shiny found objects recast as "Heavenly Choir in Gold” and Woodie Long's delicate, wave-like swirl of celestials, "The Angels Heard the Music." But it's Old Scratch who, just lke in Paradise Lost, gets pride of place, along with all his progeny: O.L. Samuels’ "Devil Dog," a glittering pit bull with greyhound legs, or Lorenzo Scott's "Devil Family at Art Gallery,” where a thin family of rather nondemonic devils tours a museum filled with paintings of other nice, respectable-looking devils. Only Hope Atkinson's "One Day at a Time" seems to strike the right balance: A set-upon woman is harried by far more tiny devils than attended by angels that hover, eyes closed, above her head.

‘A viewer might think this effusion of religious artwork denotes some cultural divide, the regular folk clinging to a Deep South Protestant way of being in the world that's far removed from the secular art world that dumped Christian-themed art around a century ago in favor of the brittle branches of modernity. There's some truth to that, but the real answer lies in the artist biographies that accompany each piece. Again and again, according to the wall texts, t's a wound that has made an art

sickness, injury and sorrow, followed by a revelatory vision that leads the person to paint or sculpt.

The theme is so prevalent, so tidy, that one begins to distrust these bios as somehow eliding the truth in favor of making these "outsiders" even more so. But the proof of this seeming cliché is in the art itself. No one viewing the serpentine, text-laden self-portraits of Jane "in Vain" Winkleman as she wrestles with Death and Evil is likely to doubt the truth of her story of homelessness and survival. In the handful of artists represented here who did not turn to a specifically Christian context, there some truly fascinating examples of where an avoidance of the academy can take an artist; Matt Sesow, whose "Bunny Collector” could hold its own with Grosz, and whose "Hellbound III" posits a universe where Francis Bacon and Edvard Munch are the same. Or Mose Tolliver, whose "Self-Portrait" is an abstracted, strange creature, part hippo and part lamprey. Or Anne Marie Grgich, whose "Chimera Spirits," with its dense, colorful faces painted on a schoo! globe, speaks best to the spirit of the self-taught: creative individuals remaking the world with the tools and talent at hand.

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This Is Not the Academy By David Brickman

Revelations and Reflections of American Self-Taught Artists Mandeville Gallery, Union College, through Aug. 11

It used to be called folk art, then it was naive art and it’s now more often referred to as outsider art, but, by any name, the work of self-taught artists is fresh, unpretentious and charming. It is also a large ‘and growing part of a very lucrative market for art and collectibles fueled by the current millennial nostalgia craze.

HAVE Your ATTENTIo“NOW,

Look at me, look at me: Ruby Wilms’ Let Us Have Your Attention Now, Baby.

So it comes as no surprise that a show like Revelations and Reflections of American Self-Taught Artists, now on view at Union College's Mandeville Gallery, is making the rounds of the nation in a slickly produced package tour under the auspices of a generously funded entity called Exhibits usa.

Featuring about 60 pieces by nearly as many artists, Revelations and Reflections demonstrates just why this category of art is so popular, with a freewheeling cross-section of media by outstanding creators from around the country (the show was organized by a gallery in Kansas). It also amply supports my personal suspicion that an inordinate number of these artists are complete religious nuts.

Take, for example, a few of the titles of the works on display: These Three Kings: Satan, Death and Hell! All for One! by Xmeah ShaElaRe'El; The Sea Beast of Revelation by William Thomas ‘Thompson; Devil With Angels Flying Around His Teeth by Alyne Harris; Angels Holding Back the Four Comers of Heaven by Annie Lucas; Hell It Is Heaven by Ronald and Jesse Cooper, The Millennium (Rev. 22:15 1-5 & Isa. 11:69) by Georgina Orr; Lake of Helifire on Brimstone by Michael Finster; and so on.

While a couple of the works (and titles) are clearly tongue-in-cheek, most of the biblically themed work in this show (and that is the great majority) is as serious as a black-coated friar and bears the same message as a Sunday sermon. The best of these, from my point of view at least, retain an element of the joy that presumably comes from religious feeling; many of those also deliver the good news with a ‘welcome sense of humor.

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Aside from the problem of being overbearingly Christian, some of the art in Revelations and Reflections falls into the rut of most nonacademic art (including that made by the average person who isn't an artist), in that the lack of training makes for a style we can all recognize as “late kindergarten.”

‘Though a few of the artists show true originality and/or virtuosity, many of the rest resemble each other a bit too much. In fact, | bet it would be possible to select a half-dozen of these pieces by as many artists, hang them together with signatures obscured, and easily pass the group off as the work of a single outsider.

On the other hand, there’s work in this show that bears a distinct whiff of too-great sophistication, in some cases appearing to have been self-consciously created to meet collector demand (it is notable that a significant number of the works are on loan from galleries and dealers).

Al that said, there's plenty here to enjoy, by viewers both educated and self-taught. Among the standouts are a number of three-dimensional pieces (perhaps the greater technical challenge of working with the third dimension is something of a weeding-out factor for mediocrity), including a lavishly painted globe by Anne Marie Grgich (titled Chimera Spirits); allegorical toylike carvings by Kathy Ruth Neal; Frank Pickle’s whimsically irresistible Tree of Horrow, and the life-size Devil Dog by ‘OL. Samuels.

Painters in the show who transcend the childlike to create styles all their own include Paul Gasoi, Jane “in Vain” Winkelman, Brian Dowdale and Matt Sesow. These four in particular would not be out of place in a gallery or museum collection of academically trained contemporaries, though their work does connect with the other work in this show through its visionary content and, in Winkelman’s case, wordiness.

Of the more “traditional” outsiders, the show includes very fine examples of work by James Harold Jennings (a naive-yet-mystical wood construction), Ruby C. Williams (the delightfully deadpan Let Us Have Your Attention Now, Baby), Howard Finster (the best-known ‘American artist in this category, thanks in part to his Talking Heads album-cover work), Mose Tolliver (a mesmerizingly odd self-portrait), Annie Tolliver (Mose's daughter) and Mary Proctor (whose Heavenly Choir in Gold consists of about 75 figures constructed mostly of costume jewelry mounted to a door, complete with knob).

‘Also fun are some of the works by artists who gleefully mix media—Eddie Breen, whose Wooden Head Lamp may or may not be an intentional play on words; Ronald Cooper, perhaps the only person to create art from old gas heaters; and Roy Minshew, whose Ange! Dog is ‘a museumworthy piece of Americana, and a fine example of what is stil referred to as folk art.

If you're tired of postmodemism, this may be just the show you need to help you kick back into summer and leave all the vices of the academy far behind.

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Slide #10 Click to enlarge image Matt Sesow Bunny Collector

il on canvas

Matt Sesow grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. When Sesow was eight years old, a landing airplane hit and severed his left arm, forcing him to become right-handed. The physical and emotional pain of that trauma has left a clear mark on his art, In 1994, at the age of twenty-eight, he began painting. Blood red backgrounds, orange averted eyes, and

heavily outlined figures are his hallmark. He paints all day, using oil on canvas and

cardboard. His subject matter is always the human form in some sort of sorrowfill state Says Sesow, “I like intense colors and sharp lines to tell a moving story. I like the way cardboard holds oil paint and the way canvas burns my fingers and sands my nails as 1 scratch its surface. I enjoy the smell of linseed oil and turpentine as they fill my studio space. Painting takes all my energy and effort. It is the most important thing I do.”

Sesow says of Bunny Collector, “{This painting] portrays a young girl/emerging woman being asked to give up her childhood faith, naiveté, and belief structure (represented by the bunny). The woman attempting to grab the bunny represents the pressure of conformity, organized religion, knowledge, and the path to adulthood. The three figures in the back represent society: the preceding generation, the nude woman, and the little girl’s future. The litte girl is dressed in black because she hasn’t attained knowledge (yellow) nor enlightenment (orange) through life experiences. The painting is from the perspective of the girl, as she sees the others with orange eyes (ll intent) and is resisting giving up the bunny (although society, in the background, will make an easy grab for the bunny while her attention is on the naked figure).”

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Matt Sesow

Hellbound IT

Oil on heavy-duty watercolor board Courtesy the artist

When Matt Sesow was eight years old, a landing airplane hit his left arm, mangling it beyond repair. In addition to the trauma and pain of this accident, the left-handed child ‘was forced to become right-handed, In 1994, at age twenty-eight, he began to paint. The dreadful events of his childhood seem to permeate his wrenching imagery, full of violent color contrasts and tormented visages. The artist uses heavy black outlines to emphasize forms and employs a complex symbolic visual vocabulary in choosing colors and characters for his compositions, Sesow also makes short films but considers himself primarily a painter, declaring, "It is the most important thing I do.”

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Matt Sesow Bunny Collector

il on canvas Courtesy the artist

A violent childhood accident changed Matt Sesow’s life and forever affected the way he ‘would view the world. Sesow is a full-time painter whose disturbing, expressionistic canvases are populated by anguished faces and contorted forms. Every color, gesture, and figure in his work has a specific symbolic meaning. Bunny Collector tells the story of a

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child's loss of innocence when confronted by adult issues of conformity, organized religion, and repressive society, related through an extraordinary vocabulary of visual symbols peculiar to the artist. A young gir! is shown being robbed of her "bunny" (representing naiveté and guileless faith) by a naked woman signifying the rude path to adulthood, "The little girl is dressed in black," explains Sesow, "because she hasn't attained knowledge (yellow) or enlightenment (orange) through life experience." Three menacing figures in the background represent society, which, the artist asserts, will make a grab for the bunny while the little girl's attention is diverted.

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Katy uth nea, Te Stioary Slope, 1990, wood, mea, navsprint

“en X20.x5"/ inches; courtesy the artist

eaven, hell, purgatory, angels, devils, demons-these are among the subjects ind images depicted in Revelations and ey Teangiat Artists, exciting exhibition that surveys the A of both established and emerging merican self-taught artists. These artists, IL walks of orthe on to the monument heme of spirituality, a theme fentral to art for as tony juumans have been engaged ‘in the creative process.

imagery are plentiful in the york of a large number of sts. Indeed, for many of them, il is reli- ious fervor that compels. them to create. The Reverend Howard Finster, undoubtedly America’s best-known sell taught artist, is one who took. up art as a result of a reli- gious impulse. Finster began creating religious paintings on found materials at the age of 60 and has since ereated thousands of works.

‘ane Grrich, Chesapeake, 1997, med mea calle, 36.6 inches; ‘courtesy adem Priv Gallery

velations and Reflections of erican Self-Taught Artists

Many self-taught artists have a profound influence ‘on family members, who also take up the making, of art, Finster’s grandson, Michael Finster, makes wood cutouts of Biblical

scenes and paintings with

and his daughter, Annie ‘Tolliver, are another such family group who will be represented in the exhibi- tion. Other artists on view will inchude Ronald and Jesse Cooper and Matryce West

Revelations and Reflections of American SelpTiaught Artists is curated by Robert Cugno and Robert Logan, directors of Media Gallery in Garnett, Kansas, and the organizers of some of ExhibitsUSA's most sucessful exhibitions.

“Pease see page 69 or information about exhibition rental fees.

moral themes. Mose Tolliver

Subsidized Rental for seven-week ‘Membership rental f for seven-week display. Number of works: Approximately 60

‘Magia: Paintings, works on paper, sculpture, mixed media

Curators: Robert Cuzno and Robert Logan, Directors, Media Gallery, Garnett, Kansas

Essayist: TBD

Organized by: Media Gallery Security: Moderate A.

Shipping: Van ine g unning fet requ: 100 3 Sore feet required: g ‘Available dates: January = Fee includes: a Brochures a duettonal Materials; | = “Text panels 3 Identineation els |= Programminggite

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