Visionary art
Encyclopedia
Visionary art is art
that purports to transcend the physical world and portray a wider vision of awareness
including spiritual
or mystical themes, or is based in such experiences.
defines Visionary art as "....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." It goes on to say that visionary art is a product of an inner process, and may not even be thought of as art by its creator; it also differentiates Visionary art from Folk art
.
Both trained and self-taught (or outsider
) artists have, and continue to create visionary works. Many visionary artists are actively engaged in spiritual practices, and some have drawn inspiration from hallucinogenic intoxication
.
Walter Schurian, professor at the University of Münster
, is quick to point out the difficulties in describing visionary art as if it were a discrete genre, since "it is difficult to know where to start and where to stop. Recognized trends have all had their fantastic component, so demarcation is apt to be fuzzy."
Despite this ambiguity, there does seem to be emerging some definition to what constitutes the contemporary visionary art 'scene' and which artists can be considered especially influential. Contemporary visionary artists count Hieronymous Bosch, William Blake
, Morris Graves
(of the Pacific Northwest School of Visionary Art), Emil Bisttram
, and Gustave Moreau
amongst their antecedents. Symbolism
, Surrealism
and Psychedelic art
are also direct precursors to contemporary visionary art.
, which includes Ernst Fuchs
and Arik Brauer
, is also to be considered an important technical and philosophical catalyst in its strong influence upon the contemporary visionary culture. It may also be considered the European version, with the names being interchangeable.
The Society for the Art of Imagination
, founded by Brigid Marlin
serves as an important portal for visionary art events. More recently, a new wave of visionary artists collaborate to function as modern cooperatives involved in self-publishing and promotion of visionary artists through the internet and via festivals such as Burning Man
and Boom Festival
, and exhibition/ritual spaces such as Synergenesis and the Interdimensional Art Movement.
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
that purports to transcend the physical world and portray a wider vision of awareness
Awareness
Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of...
including spiritual
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
or mystical themes, or is based in such experiences.
Definition
The American Visionary Art MuseumAmerican Visionary Art Museum
The American Visionary Art Museum is an art museum located in the Federal Hill neighborhood at 800 Key Highway in Baltimore, Maryland and that specializes in the preservation and display of visionary art...
defines Visionary art as "....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." It goes on to say that visionary art is a product of an inner process, and may not even be thought of as art by its creator; it also differentiates Visionary art from Folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
.
Both trained and self-taught (or outsider
Outsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
) artists have, and continue to create visionary works. Many visionary artists are actively engaged in spiritual practices, and some have drawn inspiration from hallucinogenic intoxication
Psychedelic experience
The term "psychedelic experience" is vague – characterized by polyvalence or ambiguity due to its nature – however in modern psychopharmacological science as well as philosophical, psychological, neurological, spiritual-religious and most other ideological discourses it is understood as an altered...
.
Walter Schurian, professor at the University of Münster
University of Münster
The University of Münster is a public university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. The WWU is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, a society of Germany's leading research universities...
, is quick to point out the difficulties in describing visionary art as if it were a discrete genre, since "it is difficult to know where to start and where to stop. Recognized trends have all had their fantastic component, so demarcation is apt to be fuzzy."
Despite this ambiguity, there does seem to be emerging some definition to what constitutes the contemporary visionary art 'scene' and which artists can be considered especially influential. Contemporary visionary artists count Hieronymous Bosch, William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, Morris Graves
Morris Graves
Morris Cole Graves was an American expressionist painter. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, William Cumming, and Mark Tobey, he founded the Northwest School. Graves was also a mystic.-Early years:...
(of the Pacific Northwest School of Visionary Art), Emil Bisttram
Emil Bisttram
James Emil Bisttram was an American artist, who lived in New York and Taos, New Mexico, and was known for his modernist work.Bisttram was born in Hungary, near the Romanian border, in 1895. When he was 11 years old, his family immigrated to New York City. Emil grew up in the tenement buildings...
, and Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau was a French Symbolist painter whose main emphasis was the illustration of biblical and mythological figures. As a painter of literary ideas, Moreau appealed to the imaginations of some Symbolist writers and artists.- Biography :Moreau was born in Paris. His father, Louis Jean Marie...
amongst their antecedents. Symbolism
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
, Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
and Psychedelic art
Psychedelic art
Psychedelic art is any kind of visual artwork inspired by psychedelic experiences induced by drugs such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin. The word "psychedelic" "mind manifesting". By that definition all artistic efforts to depict the inner world of the psyche may be considered "psychedelic"...
are also direct precursors to contemporary visionary art.
Schools and organizations
The Vienna School of Fantastic RealismVienna School of Fantastic Realism
The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism is a group of artists founded in Vienna in 1946. It includes Ernst Fuchs, Arik Brauer, Rudolf Hausner, Wolfgang Hutter, Anton Lehmden and Fritz Janschka, all students of Professor Albert Paris Gütersloh at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts...
, which includes Ernst Fuchs
Ernst Fuchs (artist)
Ernst Fuchs is an Austrian painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, architect, stage designer, composer, poet, singer and one of the founders of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. In 1972 he acquired the derelict Otto Wagner Villa in Hütteldorf, which he restored and transformed...
and Arik Brauer
Arik Brauer
Arik Brauer is an Austrian painter, draughtsman, printmaker, poet, dancer, singer and stage designer. He resides in Vienna and Ein Hod, Israel. Brauer is a co-founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism, together with Ernst Fuchs, Rudolf Hausner, Wolfgang Hutter and Anton Lehmden.Erich...
, is also to be considered an important technical and philosophical catalyst in its strong influence upon the contemporary visionary culture. It may also be considered the European version, with the names being interchangeable.
The Society for the Art of Imagination
Society for the Art of Imagination
The Society for Art of Imagination is an international artists' society whose stated mission is to promote art of vision and craftsmanship. It has branches all over the world, and the American branch is a registered charity...
, founded by Brigid Marlin
Brigid Marlin
Brigid Marlin is an American artist based in Hertfordshire, UK. She studied in Dublin, Montreal, New York, Paris and Vienna where, under the guidance of the Austrian artist Ernst Fuchs, she learned the oil and egg tempera technique of the Flemish and Italian Renaissance painters Jan van Eyck and...
serves as an important portal for visionary art events. More recently, a new wave of visionary artists collaborate to function as modern cooperatives involved in self-publishing and promotion of visionary artists through the internet and via festivals such as Burning Man
Burning Man
Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event starts on the Monday before the American Labor Day holiday, and ends on the holiday itself. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening...
and Boom Festival
Boom Festival
The Boom Festival is a biennial festival which takes place in Portugal.The festival features music, paint, sculpture, video art, installations cinema, theater and a concept of crosspollination of different art forms....
, and exhibition/ritual spaces such as Synergenesis and the Interdimensional Art Movement.
Historic
- William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
(1757–1827) - Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516)
- Salvador DalíSalvador DalíSalvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
(1904–1989) - Max ErnstMax ErnstMax Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
(1891–1976)
- Morris GravesMorris GravesMorris Cole Graves was an American expressionist painter. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, William Cumming, and Mark Tobey, he founded the Northwest School. Graves was also a mystic.-Early years:...
(1910–2001) - Edward Burne Jones (1833–1898)
- Frida KahloFrida KahloFrida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits....
(1907–1954)
- Gustave MoreauGustave MoreauGustave Moreau was a French Symbolist painter whose main emphasis was the illustration of biblical and mythological figures. As a painter of literary ideas, Moreau appealed to the imaginations of some Symbolist writers and artists.- Biography :Moreau was born in Paris. His father, Louis Jean Marie...
(1826–1898) - Samuel PalmerSamuel PalmerSamuel Palmer was a British landscape painter, etcher and printmaker. He was also a prolific writer. Palmer was a key figure in Romanticism in Britain and produced visionary pastoral paintings.-Early life:...
(1805–1881) - Remedios VaroRemedios VaroRemedios Varo Uranga was a Spanish-Mexican, para-surrealist painter and anarchist. She was born María de los Remedios Varo Uranga in Anglès, Girona, Spain in 1908. During the Spanish Civil War she fled to Paris where she was greatly influenced by the surrealist movement...
(1908–1963)
Contemporary
- Luis Toledo Laprisamata
- Pablo AmaringoPablo AmaringoPablo Cesar Amaringo was an acclaimed Peruvian artist, renowned for his intricate, colourful depictions of his visions from drinking the entheogenic plant brew, ayahuasca. He was first brought to the West's attention by Dennis McKenna and Luis Eduardo Luna, who met Pablo in Pucallpa while...
- Della BurfordDella BurfordDella Burford raised in Ottawa, Eston and Edmonton and is a Canadian artist and writer.Burford has a certificate from NYSID and graduate degrees from the University of Alberta and Queen’s University. Her Sacred Visionary Art has been inspired by dream, different cultures including India, ancient...
- Vincent CastigliaVincent CastigliaVincent Castiglia is an American painter. He is internationally acclaimed for his figurative paintings with metaphysical and often nightmarish subject matters. Castiglia paints exclusively in human blood on paper.-Work:Castiglia's paintings are monochromatic tableaux examining life, death, and...
- Ernst FuchsErnst Fuchs (artist)Ernst Fuchs is an Austrian painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, architect, stage designer, composer, poet, singer and one of the founders of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. In 1972 he acquired the derelict Otto Wagner Villa in Hütteldorf, which he restored and transformed...
(b. 1930) - H. R. GigerH. R. GigerHans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger is a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer. He won an Academy Award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for his design work on the film Alien.-Early life:...
- Alex GreyAlex GreyAlex Grey is an American artist specializing in spiritual and psychedelic art that is sometimes associated with the New Age movement. Grey is a Vajrayana practitioner. His body of work spans a variety of forms including performance art, process art, installation art, sculpture, visionary art, and...
- Rudolf HausnerRudolf HausnerRudolf Hausner was an Austrian painter, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. Hausner has been described as a "psychic realist" and "the first psychoanalytical painter" .-Early life:...
- Mati KlarweinMati KlarweinAbdul Mati Klarwein was a painter best known for his works used on the covers of music albums.-Biography:...
- Oleg A. KorolevOleg A. KorolevOleg A. Korolev is Russian artist whose paintings have beenexhibited and represented in the private and corporate art collections of Russia, Europe, North America, and Australia.- Education :...
(b. 1968) - Paul LaffoleyPaul LaffoleyPaul Laffoley is a U.S. artist and architect. As an architect working for Emery Roth & Sons, Laffoley worked for 18 months on design for the World Trade Center Tower II. As a painter, his work is usually classified as visionary art or outsider art...
- Brigid MarlinBrigid MarlinBrigid Marlin is an American artist based in Hertfordshire, UK. She studied in Dublin, Montreal, New York, Paris and Vienna where, under the guidance of the Austrian artist Ernst Fuchs, she learned the oil and egg tempera technique of the Flemish and Italian Renaissance painters Jan van Eyck and...
(b. 1936) (AOI) - Leigh McCloskeyLeigh McCloskeyLeigh Joseph McCloskey is an American film and television actor.-Career:McCloskey was classically trained as an actor at the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center, New York. As an actor, he is perhaps most widely known for his role as Mitch Cooper on the CBS soap opera Dallas...
(b. 1955) - Andreas NottebohmAndreas NottebohmAndreas Nottebohm, born in 1944, is an American/German artist whose work is associated with Op Art, visionary art, and Space Art. He is considered one of the key innovators of Metal Painting. "These raw yet refined paintings on aluminum lend themselves to rich multi-layered metaphors capable of...
- John PitreJohn PitreJohn Pitre is an American visionary art painter based in Hawaii. He has been called the most bankable living American surrealist....
- Antonio RoybalAntonio RoybalAntonio Roybal is an American fine-art painter and sculptor from Santa Fe, New Mexico.-History:Antonio is the son of David and Aggie Roybal, born in Santa Fe but raised in Southern California. He lived in San Diego during the earliest years of his childhood. He has three sisters. One of his...
- Mark RydenMark Ryden-Early life:Ryden is the son of Barbara and Keith Ryden, born in Medford, Oregon but raised in Southern California. He has two sisters and two brothers, one a fellow artist named Keyth Ryden....
- Amanda SageAmanda SageAmanda Sage is primarily a painter based in Vienna. She trained and worked with the Fuchs dynasty of artists, being one of the more notable students.-Life and artwork:...
- Murat SaygınerMurat SaygınerMurat Saygıner is a Turkish visionary artist who works in the fields of art photography and computer graphics, and is also known as a digital artist.- Early life :...
- De Es SchwertbergerDe Es SchwertbergerDe Es Schwertberger , commonly known simply as De Es , is an Austrian artist, painter and modeller...
- Robert VenosaRobert VenosaRobert Venosa was an American artist residing in Boulder, Colorado, USA. He studied with what are termed the New Masters. His artworks reside in collections around the world. -Life and works:...
(AOI) - Society for Art of Imagination - (AOI)
- Society of Layerists in MultiMediaSociety of Layerists in MultiMediaThe Society of Layerists in Multi-Media is a group of artists, centred in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States formed in 1982. It describes itself as a network for artists and other persons interested in a holistic perspective....
See also
- The Symbolist and Decadent art movement
- SurrealismSurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
- Outsider artOutsider ArtThe term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
- Psychedelic artPsychedelic artPsychedelic art is any kind of visual artwork inspired by psychedelic experiences induced by drugs such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin. The word "psychedelic" "mind manifesting". By that definition all artistic efforts to depict the inner world of the psyche may be considered "psychedelic"...
- Fantastic artFantastic artFantastic art is an art genre. The parameters of fantastic art have been fairly rigorously defined in the scholarship on the subject ever since the 19th century. There was a movement of science fiction and fantasy artists prior to and during the Great Depression, which were mainly cover art and...
- Horror vacuiHorror vacuithumb|Many paintings by [[Outsider Art]]ist [[Adolf Wölfli]] contain space filled with writing or musical notationIn visual art, horror vacui is the filling of the entire surface of an artwork with detail....
Sources
- Cosmic Art Ramond & Lila Piper (Hawthorne Books) ISBN 0-8015-1774-5, 1975
- Celestial Visitations The Art of Gilbert Williams (Pomegranate Artbooks) ISBN 0-517-53900-4, 1979
- Sacred Mirrors: The Visionary Art of Alex GreyAlex GreyAlex Grey is an American artist specializing in spiritual and psychedelic art that is sometimes associated with the New Age movement. Grey is a Vajrayana practitioner. His body of work spans a variety of forms including performance art, process art, installation art, sculpture, visionary art, and...
", Carlo McCormick, Inner Traditions International, 1990 - Raw Creation: Outsider Art and Beyond John Maizels,ISBN 0-7148-3149-2, 1996
- The Art of Adolf WolfliAdolf WölfliAdolf Wölfli was a Swiss artist who was one of the first artists to be associated with the Art Brut or outsider art label.-Early life:...
Elka Spoerri, Daniel Baumann and E. M. Gomez, ISBN 0-691-11498-6, 2003 - Nothing Is True - Everything Is Permitted: The Life of Brion GysinBrion GysinBrion Gysin was a painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist born in Taplow, Buckinghamshire.He is best known for his discovery of the cut-up technique, used by his friend, the novelist William S. Burroughs...
John Geiger, (The Disinformation Company), 130. ISBN 19328571251, 2005 - Fantastic Art (Taschen) ( Schurian, Prof. Dr. Walter) ISBN 978-3-8228-2954-7 (English edition), 2005
- True Visions (Erik DavisErik DavisErik Davis is a North American writer, social historian, cultural critic and lecturer.He is noted for his study of the history of technology and society and his essays about the fate of the individual in the dawning posthuman era...
and Pablo Echaurren) (Betty Books) ISBN 88-902372-0-1, 2006 - Metamorphosis: 50 Contemporary Surreal, Fantastic and Visionary Artists (beinArt) ISBN 978-0-9803231-0-8, 2007
External links
- Essays and articles
- The Path of Visions by Max Magnus Norman
- What is Visionary Art? by Alex Grey
- What is Visionary Art? by the American Visionary Art Museum
- Manifesto of Visionary Art by L. Caruana
- Daniel Mirante discusses visionary art
- Visionary Art Essay by Maura Holden
- http://www.eyewithwings.net/nechvatal/Blake/BlakeVisionWWW.htmWilliam Blake and Visionary Art by Joseph NechvatalJoseph NechvatalJoseph Nechvatal is a post-conceptual art digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses.-Life and work:Joseph Nechvatal was born in Chicago...
]
- Museums and galleries