Page 10 - Boca Expsore - May '21
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Page 10, Boca Exposure
‘An Irresistible Urge To Create,’
Exhibition Of Florida Outsider Art At Boca Museum
The passion for Outsider Art runs deep in Florida, where Kennedy, John Gerdes, Susanne Blankemeier, Morgan
self-taught artists have forged an indelible mark of special Steele, Alyne Harris, and Ed Ott. “For these artists, making
attention on the creative landscape of the state. Now, the art was as essential as breathing,” says Irvin Lippman, the
most comprehensive exhibition of its kind is on view at the museum’s executive director. “Their artistic freedom was a
Boca Raton Museum of Art until Sept. 5. “An Irresistible pure, sincere and intimate means of communication.”
Urge to Create: The Monroe Family Collection of Florida Starting in the early 1990s, the photographer Gary
Outsider Art,” is the first time a museum has presented this Monroe drove throughout the state of Florida for more than
definitive group of artists with an exhibition of this size 10 years – from Key West to Jacksonville to Pensacola – on
and scope. Against the odds, many of these artists created a mission to find what he calls “Florida’s renegade artists.”
obsessively to escape from their worlds that were often full Thirty years later, after collecting, protecting and archiving
of deep conflict and personal struggles. more than 1,000 works by outsider artists, the result is an
“Outliers, boundary-crossers, pilgrims, exiles.” The exhibition that leaves viewers spellbound.
exhibition presents 86 works, many never seen before, by 44 “When I made these journeys across Florida to seek out In her art, as in her life, little comes between Kathy
Florida artists, including: Purvis Young, George Voronovsky, and connect with these outlier artists, it was before the d’Adesky’s thoughts and her actions. Her paintings are bold
Aurelia “Mama” Johnson, Frank Ritchie, Ruby “Miss Internet and it was quite laborious,” says Monroe. During his and uninhibited with little interest in delicacy, but they are
Ruby” Williams, Gene Beecher, Kathy d’Adesky, Brian decade-long quest across the state, Monroe personally met full of the paranoia and anxiety that fueled their creation. She
Dowdall, Floryan nearly all of these artists one by one and became part of their applied paint quickly and densely. The illusion of flight seems
(Florian) Ludwig, lives. At the time, this required a major personal commitment: real in her birds, due to the intense energy that she paints
Reva Freedman, He had to earn their trust to be allowed into their reclusive into them. During her life she has battled with emotional
Ozzie Lee “OL” worlds. “It was an adventure,” adds Monroe. “Especially and neurological damage. D’Adesky has been diagnosed
Samuels, Sybil since there were no cell phones or GPS. Just good old road as schizophrenic.
Gibson, Joey maps and phone booths.” Monroe’s odyssey culminated
Smollon, Polly in 2003, when his book, Extraordinary Interpretations: let it flow from deep within their interior selves, they did
Bernard, Milton Florida’s Self-Taught Artists, was published by the University not promote their work,” says Monroe. Most of George
E l l i s, Ja ni c e Press of Florida. This landmark exhibition of 86 works has Voronovsky’s works, for example, have never been seen
already been tapped to travel to two before. “I’ve been a custodian of his life’s work for the past
other museums. “It is a new project 38 years,” adds Monroe.
that opens a welcome window The show is accompanied by an exhibition catalog with a
into another world. The world of specially commissioned poem by Campbell McGrath about
wonders that lies outside the artistic artists’ urge to create. Titled Florida Primitives, the poem
establishment,” says Lippman. starts: “All Florida artists are primitives, so feral in their
“This confounds our understanding soil, so lush, endemic and elemental ... All Florida artists
of contemporary art, in a good way.” are outsiders, outliers, highwaymen, boundary-crossers,
The artists in this exhibition pilgrims, exiles ... ” and ends with: “art is an urge as
At 91 years of age, Milton Ellis became homeless after a freak tornado barreled through were not interested in monetary irresistible as Florida.” The exhibition catalogue, published
his New Smyrna Beach residence during January 2007. His personal possessions now gain or acclaim; they just wanted by the Boca Raton Museum of Art, is available for purchase
filled two grocery bags, while his large reverse-paintings on Mylar, which had been to create. “People who admire the at the museum store: bocamuseum.org/visit/boca-raton-
rolled-up and stowed away for 30 years, somehow remained unscathed by nature’s fury. independent spirit that unites these museum-store.
Through these paintings, Milton had expressed his vision of a pending apocalypse. He artists are awed by their sense of
elaborated further on this theme in his manifesto, The Drama of Man in the Universe. urgency. Their art is genuine. They ‘An Irresistible Urge to Create’ on page 11
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