Page 10 - Boca Expsore - May '21
P. 10

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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