In the beginning, Art/Brut Center Gugging was a building full of interesting personalities, each with unique outstanding talents. They are Johann Hauser, August Walla and Oswald Tschirtner. Hauser—who died in 1996—has work presented around the world. He was a master of drawing in colored pencil, and his work was enthusiastically received by not only devotees […]

Violence and brutality aside, if you were ever unsure of how ridiculous hunting can seem in modern terms, Angela Singer spells it out. Singer has explored the notion of the hunt and its trophies for a number of years and while her subjects explicitly reference the idea, her process pointedly undermines the esteem of hunting […]

If you could hire anyone throughout art history as your studio assistant who would it be? Scott Reeder: Joseph Albers—it seems like he would be really organized and have really clean brushes, plus he seems to be pretty good with color. Warhol would also be a nice assistant because he would be good at attracting […]

Skye Thorstenson: In regards to the grotesque, I’m not sure how to talk about that. I don’t actively seek out taboo topics or try to solidify the grotesque. Normally what I plan to do is a bland reiteration of something—a memory, a scene from a TV show, or film that sticks with me. I think […]

The China-Australia exchange exhibition Process-Journey opened in October at Red Gate Gallery and at the Australian Embassy in Beijing. Process-Journey commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia. Eight Chinese and Australian artists explored and interrogated concepts of cross-cultural exchange.   Jayne Dyer on Process-Journey  Jayne Dyer, A Reading, […]

NY Arts: How did Esopus start, and how has it grown since? Tod Lippy: I started Esopus—named after a creek that runs through the Catskills—in 2003. The essential idea was to create a magazine with no "commercial interference": no ads, publicity, or calendar-driven material, and for which I would never rely on handlers (publicists, gallerists, […]

Hanne Mugaas: How did Willy Wonka Inc. start and develop? Willy Wonka Inc.: In 2005, we curated the exhibition With Us Against Reality or Against Us! (the title referring to Bush`s With Us or Against Us politics). A lot of people came to see the show—the opening was literally a riot. Our goal was to […]

If you put Fred Sandback, Modrian, Rites of Spring, Woody Guthrie, Born Against, the ladies of Gee’s Bend, Sol Lewitt, Noam Chomsky, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Blender, Henry Darger, Raymond Pettibon, Lightning Bolt, Joni Mitchell, Edward Abbey, Evergreen, The Hated, anything Dan Higgs has done, Public Enemy, James Turrell, Hokusai, The Damned, Animal Collective, Leonard Cohen, […]

Circles were everywhere—red, blue, black, yellow, green—across the floor, on the walls, near the ceiling. Hung from the roof were five bicycle wheels painted the same colors through which a yellow dragon was flying. Below the dragon on the floor was a huge piece of white canvas splashed with similar circles. Another long piece of […]

Trees are not people and people are not flowers and flowers are not straw hats and straw hats are not the smell of freshly picked sorrel and the smell of freshly picked sorrel is not nonoperational lighters. Nonoperational lighters are not belly-revealing pants. Belly-revealing pants are not cigarettes inserted in the mouth back to front. […]