Our friends recently visited the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) and all I got was this lousy postcard:
Honestly, Fifi the Pink Poodle is kinda cute, and a celebrated participant in AVAM’s Kinetic Sculpture Race. And just what is a Kinetic Sculpture Race, you ask? According to the sponsor:
The Kinetic Sculpture Race is “A race of wacky, imaginative, TOTALLY HUMAN POWERED WORKS OF ART DESIGNED TO TRAVEL ON LAND, THROUGH MUD, AND OVER DEEP HARBOR WATERS constructed out of used bicycles, gears, and parts, created by a lunatic genius who tinkers around in the garage or backyard (Do you know this person?). The machines can be simple, small crafts, piloted by only one brave soul, or they can be over 50 feet long, extremely well-engineered, sophisticated vehicles powered by a team of pilots.”
Sounds like Fifi fits right in. But what is visionary art and how do I recognize it? AVAM defines it in lyrical fashion.
“Like love, you know visionary art when you see it. But here’s the longer definition, straight out of our Mission Statement: ‘Visionary art as defined for the purposes of the American Visionary Art Museum refers to art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself.’ In short, visionary art begins by listening to the inner voices of the soul, and often may not even be thought of as ‘art’ by its creator.”
Sounds kinda like folk art, doesn’t it? But AVAM makes a strong distinction between “visionary” and “folk” art:
“At AVAM, we don’t define visionary art as ‘folk art,’ or even ‘contemporary folk art,’ principally because organizations like the National Endowment for the Arts rightfully define folk art as art coming out of a specifically identifiable tradition. Folk art is ‘learned at the knee’ and passed from generation to generation, or through established cultural community traditions, like Hopi Native Americans making Kachina dolls, sailors making macramé, and the Amish making hex signs.”
Visionary art is “created by self-taught artists who may have lived hundreds of years ago, alongside work that may have been created last year. Unlike folk art, visionary art is entirely spontaneous and individualized.”
“If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.” –Maya Angelou
Related MadSilence posts:
Inside Out – NYC’s Outsider Art Fair
Worlds Colliding: Bringing the outsider artists in
~MadSilence
1 Comment
October 10, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I used to love visiting the Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore and never ceased to be amazed at the power of some of the work and the choice of materials.