Charles Russell
invites us to break out of the confinements of academic
art and art history in order to open our eyes a little
wider and take a glimpse at what is a far greater vision.
Excerpt:
...There are many reasons why we cannot simply speak
about art without a prefix, when there are labels for
every type or genre of visual creativity, art historical
movement and cultural and sub cultural artistic behavior.
Nevertheless, it seems that we in the folk/outsider/self-taught
worlds have always been working from a subsidiary position,
asking can’t these works be more than mere tokens, can’t
they be admitted into the canon of art?
What would it take for us to talk about these works
simply as art? It would need a challenge to the current
franchise holder of the term, the so-called art world,
or more accurately, the fine art world.
Adolf Wölfli, Untitled,
1927, 14 x 19.5 inches, colored pencil on paper (left);
Lonnie Holley, Little Top to the Big Top, 1993,
26 x 39 x 5.5 inches, metal lids, pocketbook, eating utensils,
garden hose, oven rack, chain, wood, wire, found metal,
courtesy: William Arnett (right)