Day 674 (Tidbits)

A post worthy of TWO THUMBS UP is on THE 800 DAYS blog. Blake's Day 674 entry is about achievements in art by those who suffer mental illness - in particular - the illness of schizophrenia.

To begin with, Blake makes mention of a personal friend, Troy Palmer, before going into details about Swiss artist Adolf Wolfli. In the Day 674 article, Blake mentions that Troy suggested an article about Adolf Wolfli, so by whatever means the words were brought to the blogosphere, enjoy both the videos that are posted (which features some art pieces of Wolfli, along with suitable music) - and the article Blake created to honour Art Brut/Outsider Art!

Art Brut is also known as Outsider Art and is basically material/expression brought forth by those not traditionally schooled in the arts at a formal academic/artistic institution. I OBJECT to the widespread use of the explanations/descriptors, "raw art" and "rough art," sometimes - even though "Art Brut" quite literally means "raw/rough art" and the phrase comes to us via French language. It depends entirely, for me, on who is using these terms as to whether or not I accept the use of said words. The term "Art Brut" was coined by Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985)

For me, raw/rough art can be used in a way that implies "not really art," but if the artist himself/herself uses the words and phrases to mean, "naturally occurring," "natural," or "unfettered by the frameworks of traditional schooling in the arts," as well as a humanistic, raw-authentic approach to the arts, I am quite fine with these terms.

Thanks to Troy for guiding Blake into focusing on a great topic and article. I won't elaborate on the artist as Blake has some nice information going on at The 800 Days blog. Do make sure to read comments at bottom of this article as Troy has posted some titles and such for reference or if you would like to look up/find some extras related to this topic.

The Day 674 article on The 800 Days blog is associated with the topic Art Brut and the date of Tuesday February 15 2011.