The idea of "Art Brut" appeared around 1945. Its conception is generally attributed to the French painter Jean Dubuffet who meant the term to signify, "works executed by those immune to artistic culture in which imitation has no role; in which their creators take all (subjects, materials, transposition, rhythm, style etc.) from their own individuality and not from the base of classical art or stylish trends". One can understand from this definition that practitioners of "Art Brut" are …individuals who have a social status removed from the constraints of cultural conditioning. (www.the-artists.org)

I came across this definition of the art brut movement, to which NAICA artist in residence Jay Carrier most definitely belongs, on the-artists.org website while searching for native contemporary artists. Though this website has not helped me find information on native artists as there aren’t many listed it has provided me with an art historical knowledge not learned in art school. It’s seems to be a wikipedia for artists in that you have to write stuff for yourself, as such there is a lot of underground art movement information on the site. But since I write plenty here I am not going to be contributing to that site any time soon. By all means, though, add yourself if you are a native artist. It might benefit someone like me some time in the future searching for information about you.

About that Jay Carrier.

The man is prolific. A visit to his studio, a converted classroom in the high school he attended as a boy, in Niagara Falls New York was a veritable feast for the eye. Clashing colors and random materials strewn about the large expanse of the studio. It was an art science lab where found objects, dust bunnies, and Technicolor paint are mixed together intentionally and not. A sort of “ let’s see what happens if you mix this neon green with ten day old coffee grounds and some rusty chain links. Jay was an amenable host. It was a great time had by NAICA even if tinged with the glum reality that Niagara has seen better days. But Jay is an optimist and we at NAICA dig decay, and history, otherwise we might have turned around and left such was the decrepitude of the town.

To understand how Jay could naturally emerge as an abstraction/brut artist a brief synopsis of his home region follows. Also check out our video tour of his studio.

Niagara Falls is a desolate hell. I imagine the suicide rate is very high. Certainly the cancer is, but back when Jay was a child the city was vibrant. In his teens a Native arts community blossomed at the now defunct Turtle Arts Center-the center would later inspire him to pursue a degree in art. The chemical companies along the river provided steady employment as well as the Nabisco Shredded Wheat factory. Of course, the millions of tourists lured by the natural wonder of the falls helped the economy as well. However, the times have changed. Niagara Falls has been taken off the list of natural wonders of the world because “man has interfered with its natural wonderfulness,” or so our driver told us on a trolley tour around the American Falls Park.

So many wrong-headed decisions have been made in the interest of economic stimulation in Western New York, particularly in Niagara and Buffalo. Jay has seen it all go down. The chemical dumping allowed in the landfill that sits in the middle of the town. The chemical dumping that was allowed directly into the river. The reservoir built on land taken from the Tuscarora and the subsequent power lines that came along with it. The steady misuse of the region’s natural resources has created an environmental catastrophe in the area, but worse yet, the steady departure of the town’s people has sunk Niagara into a slump. It downtown area looks as if an evacuation occurred in the middle of the night some time in the near past with random packs of disenfranchised Black American kids left wandering the streets. It was an eerie sight. I wondered where their parents were we saw so many of these desolate children wandering aimlessly. I thought perhaps all the adults died of cancer. In that region any sad scenario is possible. Then there is the Seneca Niagara casino-words defy.

With all that has happened in his life and to his hometown it no surprise that Jay Carrier’s work belies the raw physical and psychological damage done to his region, but his is not specifically a regional painting style. Though he is one of the most unpretentious and amiable artists I have ever met his artwork is more brut than originally conceived-an original insider/outsider artist. His work embodies the very essence of what the movement signifies at it’s core: a non-negotiable creative space from which one produces art outside of “High Culture” or academic dictates. That is not to say his work is devoid of social-political context or that it lacks any sophistication. On the contrary, his work is politically engaged and poetically conscious. Though he works in relative isolation, preferring not to seek gallery representation or court the New York City art scene, he wants an audience to find him, but only if they accept his work on his own terms. If you want a perfect landscape, or a refined portrait, look elsewhere’s. His paintings are not studied exercises on the principles of art, nor are they formal denouements meant to punctuate an informed practice.
He makes work because he is inspired by his surroundings-at once repulsive and beautiful-with it’s scarred surfaces and polluted history. As is the landscape he has known all his life, his paintings reflect the ill-advised decisions made by avaricious politicos leaving the region burdened by toxic waste and decay. And then there is that casino.

Niagara is an apt metaphor for the art brut movement: menacing beauty and raw power manipulated into submission. In Jay Carrier’s case the submission is purposeful bending to make a connection with an audience who might understand the everyday abstract savagery committed in the name of progress. In a place like the Niagara Falls region there is no time for the perfectly executed landscape because this place is anything but.

For more on Jay carrier and NAICA’s Niagara Falls tour visit our blog at www.thenaica.org/wordpress.