THE AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM
by Skylaire Alfvegren
"Visionary art refers to art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without any formal training, whose works arise from an intensity of innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself." proclaims AVAM's mission statement. Unlike conventional museums where one admires the statement or execution of the art, a visit to AVAM can be a life-changing experience; emotions spring from the walls. "We've had trained painters say things like, 'Close the Guggenheim! This is the most honest museum I've ever seen.'" says Hoffberger. AVAM showcases the work of schizophrenics, illiterate cotton pickers, roadside reverends and Harvard-trained architects with equal reverence. "For me, AVAM brings it all together, because we get to play with the most sublime thinking and the most down to earth." says Hoffberger.
AVAM has been a long time coming. "In the US, the desire to color within the perceived boundaries of art history has been very strong," says Hoffberger. "In art class the teacher drags out the color wheel and says, 'now children, don't ever put orange next to green!'. Then you see Toulouse Lautrec's green-faced women, but that teaching has already gone in your ear. The blockbuster shows here are all European traditions - Van Gogh, the Impressionists - that's what our concept has become through the academic channels of culture. In Europe I think they have a great sense of confidence about taste. The German Expressionists called the Prinzhorn Collection their Bible, because it was great stuff and they knew it and valued it."
Interest in intuitive and outsider art has accelerated in the last few years, becoming the most exciting 'movement' in contemporary art, though works may date back a century. "I think a lot has changed with the contemporary art movement," she continues. "The ultra-modernist movement left a lot of people out in the cold because they just couldn't understand why an all-white canvas could be worth so much; it wasn't something they could relate to. I think this art just speaks to a lot of people." AVAM is expanding the definition of what art is- there are no restrictions imposed by materials, methods or ideologies. "It offers a way of approaching art from a completely new angle," explains folklorist/occasional AVAM curator, Roger Manley.
AVAM has been working its way through the cardinal elements: earth, wind, fire and water. The inaugural exhibition, "The Tree of Life," celebrated the gifts of the earth in the form of foresty ruminations and three-dimensional wooden sculpture.
Susanne Theis, organizer of Houston's famous art car parade and director of Texas' folk environment The Orange Show, curated the second exhibition, "The Wind in My Hair," which she describes as expressing all things "further, farther, faster and higher."
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