Any way you look at it,
this camper is different. Did the owner
start out to make a work of art? Was he
just expressing an opinion when he stuck the first plastic flower or figure on
the metal?
Wikipedia tells us that Naïve
art is any form of visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal
education and training that a professional artist undergoes (in anatomy, art
history, technique, perspective, ways of seeing, etc.). Unlike folk art, naïve
art does not necessarily evidence a distinct cultural context or tradition.
Here in my city, we have
several of these moving pieces of Naïve Art.
We also have Salvation Mountain…a unique work of art painted on sand,
straw, adobe, and lead free paint. The
artist, Leonard Knight, died in 2014, and volunteers are now attempting to keep
his vision stabile in a harsh environment.
Up in LA, the Watts
Towers were built by Simon Rodia.
Cement, broken crockery, rebar and bottles all came together to create
towers that lightly touch the sky. When
I first saw them they had been condemned, were crumbling, and there was a world
wide fight to preserve them. In 1990, they
were designated a National Historical Monument, and Mr. Rodia would be content.
When several artists first
saw social artist Keith Haring’s work, we thought it a joke. Anyone could do that we told ourselves. But anyone couldn’t. Most of us lack the imagination, the passion,
and the energy to create such a huge body of work in a new language. Today, most of us see ourselves as fools, and
we really enjoy Harings art. One of his
mural’s is being restored in Paris now, and I have been following its progress
with a smile on my face.
Perhaps that’s what naïve art
is….a smile on our faces.
This is not the same as folk art. I like your definition of this kind of work. Do you like Dubuffet? I visited the Art Brut Museum in Lausanne a while ago, where there was a lot of this sort of thing, also called "outsider art."
ReplyDeleteI've seen that RV before in San Diego...there's quite a few similar vehicles up here in LA LA land as well, I posted pictures of one on my facebook a few weeks ago. FInally made it to the Watts Towers for the drum festival many years back, need to go again. The metro stops right by there.
ReplyDeleteGood assessment of naive art. I agree!
ReplyDeleteLove the camper van. There used to be more of them around here. Not so much now. For some reason it reminds me of Mexico.
ReplyDeleteI recall seeing PBS Huell Howser TV show features on these. Interesting art categories new to me.
ReplyDeleteMy mother was once told the rugs she made were considered primitive art. She used some quilting concepts, drew geometric patterns and hooked rugs with only select fabrics. Her vision no longer allowed her to use traditional quilting designs and she needed something to keep her hands busy so she could stay awake to listen to Talking Books (on record. then.)'. An overflowing number of rugs resulted in her thinning them out by selling them. The three figure price others paid in Scottsdale, Az, here & other shops amazed her.
I am not a fan of naive art. It makes me nervous and reminds me of tics and quirks of the restless mind. It is like an acid trip without the flow, although I have never dropped acid. But I also have a problem with most contemporary or abstract art. Oddly I do like Rothko.
ReplyDeleteField trip to Salvation Mountain in the fall! Once the weather cools!
ReplyDeleteYes, Sunday days are free. :)
ReplyDeleteMy kind of naive art consists of those cottage gardens I have seen. Otherwise, it's "emperors new clothes" all over again.
ReplyDeleteKeith Haring was one of my daughter's favorite artists. The Watts Tower reminds me of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.
ReplyDelete