I ran into an artist at my local Starbucks last night. He invited me to join him and two other artists to exhibit in a show. We agreed to discuss the details later.

“What are you trying to say in your art?” he asked.

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The label “outsider art” continues to be bandied about as is “fine art"—two unfortunate terms for original work.

British art historian Roger Cardinal first used “outsider art” in 1972 to describe French artist Jean Dubuffet’s collection of art brut (or “raw art"). Starting in the 1940’s, Dubuffet visited asylums in Switzerland and collected artwork by the patients that he encountered. Dubuffet was convinced art brut resided unfettered within the works of children, criminals, and madmen. He felt, for the most part, that such work was immune from being tainted by the popular culture. Dubuffet’s own childlike artwork speaks clearly about art and the source of originality.

Does one have to be in a mental institution to produce honest work? Of course, this is nonsense.

It is also true that art from the heart and soul heals.

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"Art is magic. So say the surrealists. But how is it magic? In its metaphysical development? Or does some final transformation culminate in a magic reality. In truth, the latter is impossible without the former. If creation is not magic, the outcome cannot be magic. To worship the product and ignore its development leads to dilettantism and reaction. Art cannot result from sophisticated, frivolous, or superficial effects.”

—Hans Hofmann, from Search for the Real

Note: For more about what makes magic in art, see My Artist’s Statement inside the main site gallery.

"I was returning, immersed in thought, from my sketching, when on opening the studio door, I was suddenly confronted by a picture of indescribable and incandescent loveliness. Bewildered, I stopped, staring at it. The painting lacked all subject, depicted no identifiable object, and was entirely composed of bright color-patches. Finally, I approached closer and only then recognized it for what it really was—my own painting, standing on its side on the easel.”

—Wassily Kandinsky

The painting in question was, as I recall, of haystacks, not the detail of the painting shown above. I cropped this section from Kandinsky’s art painted on glass from an insightful book by Annegret Hoberg called Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter that chronicles their ill-starred love affair. Prestel Publishing

If you’ve never heard Chuck Mangione’s Land of Make Believe Concert, you owe it to your self to hear his great flugelhorn backed up by the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra with the suberb voice of Ester Satterfield, plus the support of other fine musicians.

First released in 1973, this ride of positive energy holds up nearly 30 years later. Quality does not diminish with time. I have music on when I’m painting. It sends a vibration into the room and it moves through me.

Music is unique. It is universal as it taps into feeling and transcends thinking—my kind of expression.

Wassily Kandinsky, the great Russian painter, wanted the spirit of his work to transcend in the same way the language of music liberated the soul, unbounded by the restraints of conceptualizations and dogma. That’s why he called many of his works improvisations and compositions.

The next time you want to visit a special space, put Chuck’s wonderful album on and soar into realms that are waiting for free spirits.

There is plenty of room.»