Outsider Environments Europe

Jean Linard, La cathédrale/The cathedral: unite to save

2012-01-29T19:36:00.015+01:00

picture from Bernard's weblog Partager

When french blogger Bernard in the course of 2010 visited the site of ceramic artist Jean Linard, who died in february 2010, he was surprised that the gates were not locked and that he just could enter (and make lots of pictures, like the one above).

End november 2011 he wrote a note entitled Sauver l'oeuvre de Linard.

His surprise is understandable. Why not take care that an art environment that is no longer supervised by its creator, at least is protected by locked gates? I wouldn't know. The answer may have to do with a weighing of interests, taking care being less important than other interests (not to say that disinterest is at stake).

Blogger Bernard's call Sauver l'oeuvre de Linard (To save Linard's oeuvre) has been answered. A group of 43 artists, art critics, curators, art colllectors and writers about art some days ago has signed a petition, adressed to the french minister of culture, asking to do what is in his power -cooperating with regional and local authorities- to keep the site open for the public, protect and save Linard's creation and promote that the complex becomes a cultural centre. You will find the text (in french) on Sophie Letpetit's blog of January 21, 2012.

Of course, France has more art environments that deserve to be saved for the future. One of the three most important sites in France, les Rochers sculptés by Abbé Fouré. even hasn't a protected status, and then you have the sites of Gabriel Albert and Bodan Litnianski that need attention, not to mention other less known sites.

However, it could be that the art environment of Linard's Cathedral, precisely has the connotation and circumstances that may lead to actions by public officials, which not only are relevant for this site, but also for other ones.

Maybe this is the moment. So, that's why this post is subtitled "unite to save".

Jean Linard
la Cathédrale
18250 Neuvy-deux-clochers FR

Giacomo Rebecchi, Il giardino delle ventole/The garden of fans

2012-01-25T12:34:00.005+01:00

pictures courtesy of Cristina Calicelli

A garden in Italy with a lot of poles bearing colourful devices, that can rotate in the wind: ventole in Italian, fans or, my favourite, whirlygigs in english.

Life and work

This environment, located in the Lombardian community of Cremona, is a creation by Giacomo Rebecchi (1932).

He had a job as a machinist with the Italian railways.

When he had become retired, in the eighties of the former century, he began constructing mobiles.

He would use wheels of unneeded bicycles and all kinds of recycled material, which he painted in bright colours.

All together nowadays the garden has some fifty poles with these colourful mobiles and constructs on top. A number of the creations have been dedicated to members of mr Rebecchi's family.

Documentation

* Article in the website Costruttori di Babele

in this blog other installations with windvanes:

* André Pailloux

* Yves Floc'h

* Robert Coudray

Giacomo Rebecchi

Il gardino delle ventole

Via dei Ferrovieri Caduti 7

26100 Cremona, Lombardia, IT

can be seen from the street

streetview

update: Charles Bird, Garden of ornaments

2012-01-16T15:05:00.002+01:00

picture (made in the 90's) courtesy of Katie Teague

I have revised my post of July 18th, 2011, about Charles Bird's Garden of Ornaments.

It appears that mr Bird had friends in the United States, his "American connection", with whom he -in the 90's of the former century- has corresponded, and who have pictures of his Garden of Ornaments.

I am very grateful to ms Katie Teague, who not only informed me about some biographical data, but who also sent me some of these pictures and gave me permission to publish them in my blog.

The pictures can be enjoyed in this diashow:

Markus Meurer, Künstlerhaus in Monreal/Monreal Artist's House

2012-01-03T15:16:00.004+01:00

pictures in this post courtesy of Haus Nieting

Monreal is a smalll, centuries old, picturesque community of less then a thousand inhabitants in the Eifel area in Germany. It has a castle in ruins, on a hill.

Life and work

In the foot of that hill there has been a dugged out house, which through the years has developed into an outsider art environment. In 1919 the house was bought by grandfather Meurer. His son Fritz Meurer (1932-2003) lived there all his life. In 1959 Markus Meurer was born, and he lived there untill he had to quit in 2006.

It so happened that in this house, from 1959 on, for a number of years, three generations Meurer lived together.

Markus Meurer grew up in an artistic, creative family. His grandfather told him stories about worldly adventures and technical inventions. His father, Fritz Meurer, who was an autodidact visual artist, teached him working with wire, metal and stone.

picture by Charles Pilet

The interior of the dugged out house has been abundantly decorated by Markus Meurer: paintings on the ceilings and on the walls, lots of sculptures, all kinds of bric à brac, all together producing kind of a Gesamtkunstwerk.

In the same way the exterior has been equipped with a variety of creative constructs and decorative items.

picture (2006) Peter Nieting

paintings on the ceiling

The house and its exterior have become known as the "Künstlerhaus in Monreal" (Monreal Artist's House) and those interested in this art were welcome to pay a visit.

picture by Charles Pilet

the inscription reads: "Thanks for visiting the art, 3M"
(3M = Markus Meurer Monreal)

After first his grandfather, and later (in 2002 and 2003) his parents had died, Markus Meurer, who meanwhile had developed himself into an outsider artist with a very personal signature, came under pressure of the local authorities to quit the house.

This he finally did in 2006, when he left for the United Kingdom, to live there with his english wife.

The local authorities declared the house to be unhabitable and had the site destructed in the autumn of 2007, despite protests from (inter)national gremia. Before the demolition took place, a group of Markus Meurer's friends has taken out all movable creative constructs, which nowadays are safely stored in a depot.

Markus Meurer's art

In 2008 Markus returned to Germany, to setlle in a community in the Lower Rhine area.

Using wires, metal, all kinds of thrown away materials and objects, whatever, he creates assemblages and constructs, depicting fascinating insects, animals, mobiles, and structures.

He recently had expositions in *Kunsthaus Kannen in Münster, Germany (2007-2011), *the Outsider Art House in Veenhuizen Netherlands (2009), * at the Verbeke Foundation (Back Yard Genius) in Antwerp, Belgium (2010) and *at INSITA Triennial of naive art, art brut and outsider art in Bratislava, Slovakia (2010).

Documentation
* Website of Markus Meurer's agent, Haus Nieting (in english)
* Webpage of the Stadshof Collection (Netherlands)

Markus Meurer (and his father and grandfather)
Künstlerhaus
Monreal. Germany
site demolished in 2007

Jean-Baptiste Bouriez, Maquettes/Models

2011-12-29T13:21:00.008+01:00

picture (from the 70's) courtesy

of Christine, weblog Chtitine

Above picture was taken in the seventies of the former century, when its author travelled in the north of France, en route to Belgium, passing the small community of le Doulieu (west of Lille).

The picture shows the wooden models created by Jean-Baptiste Bouriez. He was in agriculture and began his creative activity around 1952. The models are installed in the front garden of his house facing the D18 departmental road that crosses the village.

One will recognize an Eiffel tower, and the garden also had models of the Notre Dame in Paris, the local church in le Doulieu and the lighthouse at le Havre. It would take mr Bouriez much time to repaint the items, which he did every springtime. (I derive this information from the book by Francis David, see documentation).

To my knowledge, the internet has no biographical or other information about mr Bouriez. Likewise, above picture is one of the very few I could trace on the web. Another picture, from David's book, is on the weblog of Jean-Michel Chesné.

I do not know when this has happened, but meanwhile the front garden has been redesigned, i.e. the models have disappeared and nowadays nothing has been left of this environment.

Documentation

* Short article and some pictures in: Francis David, Guide de l'art insolite: Nord/Pas de Calais, Picardie. Paris (Herscher), 1984 (occasionaly available antiquarian)

Jean-Baptiste Bouriez

Maquettes

le Doulieu, Nord, FR

site demolished

update: Rémy Callot, ceramics

2011-12-12T20:23:00.004+01:00

When on decmber 20, 2008, I wrote a post about Rémy Callot, from the city of Carvin in northern France, it was not so easy to come along information about him, as it also proved difficult to find pictures of the mosaic creations he had made on the enclosure walls around the exterior of his house.

This has since improved considerably, like for example is shown in the wonderful collection of pictures, published by Sophie Lepetit on her blog.of april 23, 2010.

Now there is news to report about the creative work of Rémy Callot. It has become known that a large collection of ceramics is part of his legacy. An example is shown in above picture, showing a ceramic, representing kind of an Aztec deity (?).

The some 200 ceramics, which are in a wonderful condition, have been donated by the family to the city of Carvin. In september 2011 the works for the first time have been exposed in the city's Cultural Centre Jean Eiffel.

Niilo Rytkönen, Sculptures around the farm

2011-12-03T17:47:00.011+01:00

first two pictures (2003) courtesy of Olli Korhonen,

from his blog, see documentation

Niilo Rytkönen (1928?) lives on a farm, located in the rural area of the small finnish town Suonenjoki. The farm, which has a large stretch of meadowy land around, is situated close to the Kutujoki river in a spot locally known as Jokela.

Mr Rytkönen has become known because of his creation of an extended outsider environment, both by decorating the walls of the barn of the farnhouse and by populating the meadows near the farm with totemlike items, in general making use of natural materials collected in the nearby woods and countryside.

He began this creative activity at a later age, probably when he already was in his fifties. At some moment, when being around outside, he was triggered by the form of natural items like stones or wooden stumps, as he became aware of the anima these items may have and the persona they may represent.

Mr Rytkönen began collecting them and in some cases he would color them with paint, blue, white, or other colours, as in above picture. He had to overcome some hesitation before he decided to exhibit these items on the wall of the barn, a feeling that had to do with the idea that the neighbours might consider such a decoration somewhat strange.

Maybe some did, but in general his decorative activity was appreciated, and gradually Niilo Rytkönen expanded the exhibition space into the fields near the farm.

Nowadays, the fields are covered with rows of wooden poles, with heads or representations of birds on top, made of painted pieces of (birch) wood, a number of these poles fitted with horizontal branches that suggest arms, all together -because of the continuous repetition- delivering an extraordinary artistic scene.

He also has created life-sized characters, like dolls, dressed with clothes from the fleamarket and drawn up in long rows on the meadows around the farm.

In general mr Rytkönen's creations are meant to cherish visitors and give them a good feeling, and one can come along items that express ironic or humoristic comments upon actual social and political developments in Finland.

picture courtesy of Juda Pääjärvi (Flickr, nov 2008)

Niilo Rytkönen in recent years has been invited to participate in expositions of outsider art, both on a regional and national level. He also has been portrayed in the Cristoph Schuch movie Self Made Paradise (Germany, 2007, 84')

Although in his eighties, he is still active in taking care of the exposition grounds and the exhibited items.

More documentation and pictures

* Olli Korhonen's post of october 5, 2011, in his weblog relates the story, following an article he first published in 2003 in a local newspaper.
This article, translated into english, has been republished in my collection of outsider environments texts. This publication may have been the first that regionally introduced Niilo Rytkönen as an outsider artist..
(Also take a look at Olli's website with wonderful pictures of birds)

* ITEnet website

* Nykykansantaide website

Niilo Rytkönen

Sculptures around the farm

Jokela, Suonenjoki, FI

can be visited