Ingenuism : just what is it, and who?

 

"THIS WAS DRAWN BY THE LIGHT OF 3 ELECTRIC LIGHT BULBS @ 60 W PER.  BEST VIEWED INDOORS USING SIMILAR LIGHTING.  A PINHOLE OF LIGHT THROUGH WHICH THE LIGHT OF THE THOUGHT ESCAPES  A MEDICINE TO SILENCE THE VOICE OF GOD ~ A THOUGHT OR VISION THAT CAN'T BE SHARED OR DESCRIBED."  That is what the artist, Justin Duerr, wrote in the lower left corner of this amazing work of pen on paper called Crushing Density of Repetitive Thought.

I was glad to see this exhibit yesterday at Philadelphia's Magic Gardens on South Street.  We had just finished hanging the DEEP SIX show at Da Vinci Art Alliance.  I was nearby and wanted to catch this last exhibit of the Coalition Ingenu Self-Taught Artists' Collective before Robert Bullock, the moving spirit behind it,  moves to Florida.

"Coalition Ingenu is a nonprofit organization promoting artwork by
self-taught creative individuals with histories of homelessness,
unique mental conditions, or other extraordinary circumstances
precluding them from equal opportunity or ability to promote themselves."  "Autodidactic: having skills or knowledge acquired through one's own efforts. Ingenuism: A style of art that is honest and personal, without restraint, reserve, or dissimulation," says their literature.

It was a thought provoking juxtaposition with the six of us who had just put the DEEP SIX exhibit together.  Although we don't fit the definition of 'extraordinary circumstances', we all I think strive for a style of art that is honest and personal, without restraint, reserve, or dissimulation. Our styles are all very different yet the exhibit has a cohesion and unity that is powerful. I think the connecting thread is that definition of Ingenuism: art that is honest and personal, without restraint, reserve, or dissimulation.   And that, I hope, is what people will see and respond to when they come to the opening tomorrow, or any time the exhibit is up through November 29th!

 

http://www.davinciartalliance.org/