News Scrapbook 1979

EXHIBITION FEATURED AT USD I I/~~/ 1

LocaUy, a man, now deceased, created massive sett- ings, such as "Circus" and "Hospital," detailing the drama in every day materials and objects. The work of these artists is termed - not necessarily by them, McGraw points out, but by art historians and scholars - folk art, primitive, naive. "By naive, we are referring to artists who have no formal training," said McGraw. "A naive artist could be anyone who creates things from his own personal experience and vision on a continuing basis. He is not affected by academic institutions or art trends. He has had no exposure to the great masters. His expression is direct, singular, personal. He captures what strikes him as the essence of a subject. "And, bas1caUy, if you don't like it, he could care less. He is not out to please you. He is satisfying himself in self-taught ways." And Archuleta, is one to prove this. In addition to decorative house paint, Archuleta embel- lishes his ambitious wooden dolls with glue, sawdust, wool, feathers, whatever adds texture, and to the artist, grains of reality. Such resourcefulness in use of materials is common among the folk artists. John Hoff, who did "Hospital" and "Circus," used wood, plaster, metal, ready-made dolls, paint and found objects. His staging of a three-ring circus is just that, a hullabaloo of aetivity Including those daring young men on the flying trapeze, the lion's cage with lion tamer, and prancing equestrians. They are encircled by an entou- rage of clowns, bareback riders, musicians, et al. There 1s nothing sophisticated about Hoff's work, except its individuahty. A bit macabre and grotesque is "Hospital," in which Hoff depicts a baby's ward, an operating room complete with bloody surgery in progress, patients lying helpless in their confining beds, religious memorabilia scattered about. Hoff's statements are perhaps some of the most poignant in the exhibition, offering his basic but honest interpretations of life. See ART, E-4

Ten years :igo a Santa Fe carpenter had an urge to carve a llfe-sw1 anunal out of a single piece of wood. He carved a lifr·-s1ze oxen. Ile painted it with house paint Then, h SOid tl For 75 Ct'nts. And that might have been the payoff. lie might have brushed off the chips and gotten out of the woods But t'ellpe Archukta, now 75, continued acting upon the burning urge to carve other life-size animals out of ingle pi Cf's of wood. He rarved a sow, piglets, a koala bear, a cat, a panda, anew '. a porcupine, a lynx, and on and on . It became his thmg, his art, his individual form of expression. And evPn though tucked away in his Santa Fe, 1\'.M., domain, his "art" came to the attention of enthusiastic patrons of American folk art. Hi carving of that first life-size oxen wasn't just a passing fancy It became indigenous to his expression. Archuleta's desire to create art expressive of his environment 1s similar to the desires of folk artists doing their thing throughout the country. A group exh1bi110n of works by American folk artists, Including a selection of Archuleta 's works, is on view at the Art Gallery, Founders' Hall, Universily of San Diego. The exhibit is entitled "The Naive Eye " It will contmu on view at the Founders' Hall gallery through Dec. 6. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. It was organized by Therese Whitcomb and Deloss McGraw or the USO art faculty, and includes examples of art by 1lled, but untutored artists - thr "naive" artists. Accordtng to .'ilcGraw, thP naive artist may be found in all walks of life One woman, in prison for murdering her hu band, took up drawmg, expressing herself in an inner, prlm1t1vc wny Aman, blind smce age 12, carves simple statues.

'WOODN'T' HURT YOU - It looks rather ferocious, but this lynx wouldn't hurt a flea. He's a carved wood creation by Felipe Archuleta in "The Naive Eye" exhibit now on display at USO. *Art CONTINUED FROM PAGE E·I

ious imagery. They are not isolated artisans, but it 1s a family way of life. An exampie of this type of artist, according to McGraw, is the Lopez fami- ly of New Mexico. "A piece may be attributed to one member of the family," said McGraw, "but it could easily be another member, or several. " In a statement concern- ing the impetus to assemble such an exhibition of con- temporary naive folk art,

Whitcomb and McGraw conclude: "In an era when contem- porary art is suffocatingly subject to the problems of its own concerns, it is invig- orating to witness pure statements which are, as Herbert Waide Hemphill wrote in his book, "Twenti- eth Century American Folk Art," unaffected by the mainstream of professional arts - its trained artists, trends, intuitions, theories and development.

More light-hearted are the wood carvings by Seaborn Sutton of Long Beach. By trade, a duck decoy carver, his personal expression in carvings in- clude a New York Yankee, Uncle Sam and Abraham Lincoln, all just straight, standing figures, painted in colors befitting their imag- es, such as red, white and blue for Uncle Sam. Ben Miller of Kentucky carves canes with an Ap- palachian snake cult motif. (Perhaps influenced by the ta too artist.) The blind wood carver, Ernest Goud of Kentucky, models fig- ures which, as in "Greeting Couple," tend to have a choppy, yet warm feeling to them, inviting touch and suggesting a love of life by the artist who comes off as innocent and refreshingly naive. Inez Walker of New Jer- sey, who is the naive artist serving time in prison, draws solemn figures in a simple way. These appear as solitary statements, inner feelings showing strength, yet alienation. Among the more humor- ous expressions in the ex- hibit is "Garden of Eden" by Uncle Jack of Virginia. He used airplane model paint on board to depict Adam and Eve huddled about the apple tree with a lurking devil. And in child- like printing, as if in a message cloud over a car- toon character, Adam says: "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" The exhibit also includes works which McGraw la- bels as the more "primi- tive" art in which families and generations carry on traditions of depicting relig-

EYEI G 'THE NAIVE EYE' - A visitor looks over works on display at the Art Gallery, Foun- ders' Hall, University of San Diego, in an exhibit

called "The Naive Eye." The exhibit, running through Dec. 6, features works of so-called untu- tored artists. - Photos by George Smith, Tribune