
Asheville's Cleaster Cotton has a new gallery within the gallery of AnTHM Town Arts in downtown Black Mountain. This amazingly talented self-taught artist, I'd swear, was passed the baton of talent straight from the hand of Jean Dubuffet, founder of Art Brut, with her unique though similar painting style, use of color, rhythmic technique, powerful symbolism, and storytelling ability. From the Underground Railroad to her series of masked female images, Ms. Cotton's passion is contagious, compels you you to take a closer look, to shed a tear, to learn more about plight, then moves you to celebrate--freedom, its many layers, and the vibrancy of choice! Stop in the see Ms. Cotton's 20-piece collection at AnTHM Town Arts, 100.5 West State St, Black Mountain, NC 828
Dubuffet, founder of Art Brut, was a french painter, sculptor, printmaker, collector and writer. He was temperamentally opposed to authority and any suggestion of discipline and devised for himself a coherent, if rebellious, attitude towards the arts and culture. For all his maverick challenges to the values of the art world, Dubuffet’s career exemplified the way in which an avant-garde rebel could encounter notoriety, then fame and eventual reverence. His revolt against beauty and conformity has come to be seen as a symptomatic and appreciable influence in 20th-century culture.
Dubuffet, founder of Art Brut, was a french painter, sculptor, printmaker, collector and writer. He was temperamentally opposed to authority and any suggestion of discipline and devised for himself a coherent, if rebellious, attitude towards the arts and culture. For all his maverick challenges to the values of the art world, Dubuffet’s career exemplified the way in which an avant-garde rebel could encounter notoriety, then fame and eventual reverence. His revolt against beauty and conformity has come to be seen as a symptomatic and appreciable influence in 20th-century culture.