aim[Iceman at Crazy Larrys,Kings Road, with Block+Kitchen sink]
Is ‘aim’ really art brut ? I haven’t seen him appear in New York’s dedicated outsiders art fair or in Christian Berst’s Rivington street gallery in Lower East side. And Ricco Maresca and Andrew Edlin claim they haven’t heard of him at all. Outsider art is a term invented by the curator Roger Cardinal. It’s a broad label and perhaps the term simple folk art is more relevant. aim said,by cryptic email,that he is an “inside” artist,so I suppose he is neither a self-taught artist or a professional. In my opinion, he does fit the stereo-type image of art brut. Jean Dubuffet’s 1945 definition of art brut as “productions of all kinds, with a strongly inventive character, with as little debt as possible to traditional art or cultural clichés and made by persons unknown to and estranged from a professional artistic milieux”,would seem to fit aim's oeuvre. I asked[by email] if aim thought he was opening up a dialogue between contemporary art and art brut-the “most captivating terra incognita in art” [Christian Berst]. He sent the above four word reply,eventually. He obviously doesn’t cultivate the critics even though I have always personally held a flag up for him. I told aim an untitled work by Darger sold at Christie’s in Paris for £601,500.No reply. I would like to see aim at the Venice Biennale,the Centre Pompidou, Musée d’art modern de la Ville de Paris.As an insider,he would qualify to be an outsider![Kafe Smictiric,art critic]
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