NAÏVE ART (a creation of “paradise regained”).

Any attempt to define naïve painting seems only to add to the confusion so don’t be surprised if you are none the wiser after these few words.

Untutored a true naïve painter can never be “professionally” trained, however there are professional painters amongst the Naïves. The true naïve also have a talent that separates them from those who paint as a pastime or merely for fun. There are artist who could be said to paint in a pseudo-naive manner and in France they are referred to as “Les Pompiers”, not as firemen but in stylistic terms as being pretentious or pompous.

All naïve painter have their own vision of the world which in some way is uniquely different from that of any other. As children attempt to interoperate their surroundings for the first time their viewpoint can be regarded as uniquely theirs, and it is that very naivety which the mature viewer finds so appealing.  Naïve art cannot be taught and as such is a reflection on our own years of innocence.

The necessity to express is much stronger than the artist himself or as Rouseau put it “Ce n’est pas moi qui dessiner c’est ce truc au bout de ma main”. (It is not I that am drawing, it’s the thing at the end of my hand”.) The naïve painter could be said to be like a person possessed in the grip of a “thing” the nature of which he cannot “logically” understand. Naïve painting is timeless, the artist being continuously in search of “paradise lost”, a reconfiguration of all that life has robbed them of, a creation of “paradise regained”. It has been said that naïve painting is that painted with the “eyes of the soul”, a term used by Shakespeare and of biblical origin; “I have pondered upon all things with the eyes of my soul”

As folk art and traditional craftsmanship gave way to industrial methods of production so man ventured into the unknown. It is hardly surprising that from the melting pot of races that went into creating America came a long history of naïve art. The strength and charm of the naïve image is often one that transposes well into the stitched form and with that in mind this week I ran a short evening introductory stitching workshop for the Tolsta Youth Club. We started with a game of head body and tail to produce a wonderful array of strange beasts and then transferred these to calico either reproducing the entire image or simply the head. Although stitching can be seen a process of travelling up and down with a needle it is never easy to start with and a tangled and knotted mess can ensue which in itself can still be regarded as stitching. In order not to stifle creativity it is important that child don’t take on the adult trait of thinking they might get some wrong. The children were aged from 7 to 11 and learnt fast and managed to produce some delightful images.