a bodega cat & ukrainian folk art + much more

this week in outsider art also includes a black jesus and a heart and hand hooked rug, as well as deep dive into the met museum's collection of outsider art

Dec 17, 2023

THIS WEEK IN OUTSIDER ART

for daily postings of outsider art visit folkartwork.art

**SIMONE JOHNSON** N.Y.C. Bodega Cat (date unknown) // Mixed media on paper; 29" x 36.5" via Pure Vision Arts

*Detail of one of the murals painted in the early 2000’s on the inside of the home of Ukrainian folk artist Polina Raiko, photo via Ukrainska Pravda*

Read my article on Daily Art Magazine: Polina Raiko, The Self-Taught Folk Artist Who Turned Tragedy to Triumph

**BILL TRAYLOR** Black Jesus (ca. 1939–42) // Gouache and pencil on cardboard; 13 3/4 x 10 in. (34.9 x 25.4 cm) currently on loan to The Met Museum

One of a few Bill Traylor pieces the Met Museum currently has on loan to it’s permanent collection that is not on display. See more!

» free preview of this week’s B-B-Bonus This Week in Outsider Art newsletter «

**ANONYMOUS** Lounging Woman; Folksy Silk Textile (Early 20th Century) // Textile with wool embroidery; 18.6 inches tall, nearly 25 inches wide via *Candler Arts*

**KAY LE SEELLEUR ARA** Good Vibrations (c. 2023) via *the artist*

**LORETTA PETTWAY** My Way (2003) // Cotton, denim, corduroy, and polyester; 88 x 69 inches via *Souls Grown Deep Foundation*

See more rugs by Loretta Pettway here.

**MARIA PRYMACHENKO** Snake (1959) // Paper, watercolor, gouache via *National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art*

**ANONYMOUS** Heart in Hand Hooked Rug (mid-20th century) // Wool on canvas; 29 3/4 × 12 3/4" via *American Folk Art Museum*

**MONTREL BEVERLY** Reebok Pumps (2023) // Pipe cleaner sculpture | 5" x 9" x 9" via *SAGE Studio & Gallery*

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FEATURED ARTIST

**NIL & KARIN ROMANO** Dancing with crocodiles (2023) // Acrylic on canvas courtesy *the artists*

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OH WORD?

**HORACE PIPPIN** Self-Portrait II (1944) // Oil on canvas, adhered to cardboard; 8 1/2 × 6 1/2 in. (21.6 × 16.5 cm) via The Met

The Met Museum's Best Examples of Outsider Art

While there is little to none on display, the Met Museum owns quite a few impressive works by outsider artists.

Largely thanks to a single donation of art in 2014, the Met has dozens of works by self-taught artists like Bill Traylor, Grandma Moses, Nellie Mae Rowe, Horace Pippin, and more. Check out this article to find thirteen artists and their exquisite examples of visual art that jumped off the page when I scoured the permanent collection of the Met the week I was home not teaching and watching my “sick” children run around the house making their own “art” on the floors of my hundred-year-old home.

And if anyone from the Met is reading this and wants me to come curate their collection and find a wall for all of this work to be displayed, I'm there.

the met museum's outsider art

WATCHING AND READING

Here are a few things I’ve been reading this past week:

Here are a few things I’ve been watching this past week:

Canadian Folk Artist Leo Naugler’s Flying Fish Helicopter (2008)
Georges Melies’ 1901 film “The Man With The Rubber Head”
Art under attack: How Russia destroys Ukraine’s cultural heritage

SHOUT OUT

Friend, comrade, incredible folk artist, and great person Sam Planetta will be traveling across Canada to be with her family after a medical condition has left her mother ill. To help with the expenses of travel and care, she is selling (at some really great prices) her traditional Polish wycinanki artworks, which have her own punk rock spin on them, as she “yearns for a closer relationship to nature, [and her] own relationship with womanhood.” If you are willing and able, now would be a great time to purchase her work!

You can reach out to her directly on Instagram or let me know if you are interested in any of her works.

FOUR YEARS AGO TODAY…

Look at this beauty from Mose T. This whole vibe reminds me of the great booth by SHRINE at the Outsider Art Fair from five years ago, when they recreated Mose Tolliver’s bedroom in stunning fashion.

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