SINGULAR SPACES:

From the Eccentric to the Extraordinary in Spanish Art Environments

The Fowler Museum at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles

APRIL 12 – SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery, San Jose State University

OCTOBER 1 – NOVEMBER 1, 2013

This exhibition forms part of a groundbreaking survey of art environments created by self-taught artists from across Spain, most of whose idiosyncratic sculptures, gardens, and buildings had never before been fully documented, let alone published or exhibited. These sites are developed organically and improvisationally, without formal architectural or engineering plans; they are at once evolving and complete. Often highly fanciful, colorful, and quixotic, the work is frequently characterized by incongruous juxtapositions, an approach that makes the work appear impulsive and spontaneous.

The exhibition includes photographic documentation as well as selected artifacts by several of the artists, some of which were created especially for this display. Among the artists are Josep Pujiula, renowned internationally for his “woven” wooden towers and labyrinths (Argelaguer, Catalunya) and Francisco González Gragera, whose Capricho de Cotrina (Los Santos de Maimona, Extremadura) is an outstanding example of architectural art brut. In conjunction with the exhibition, a book has been published by leading outsider art imprint Raw Vision, which features detailed case studies of the artists and their work, along with contextualized historical and theoretical references to art history, anthropology, architecture, Spanish area studies, and folklore. The book includes over 1100 pages and over 5000 images divided between the hard copy and an enclosed CD.

In conjunction with the opening of the exhibition at both San Jose State University and the UCLA Fowler Museum, exhibition curator and Thompson Art Gallery director Jo Farb Hernández presented an illustrated lecture on this project, introducing the artists and analyzing the field as a whole.     

THIS EXHIBITION IS AVAILABLE FOR DISPLAY AT ADDITIONAL VENUES. PLEASE CONTACT JO FARB HERNANDEZ  – jfh (at) cruzio (dot) com -FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND SCHEDULING