O B J E C T S

Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet
vs
Arik Levy

"For all of Dubuffet's desire to bring art to the people, to endow it with true creativity, to transcend and diversify the hierarchical structure of the art establishment, Dubuffet's enterprise is scarred by contradictions of value. Dubuffet's rejection of culture is hardly a unique position; it solidifies his role as an avant-garde artist instead of positing him on the cultural margins next to the makers of ART BRUT ." (here)












Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet
vs
Arik Levy


1. Dubuffet's sculpture
2. Arik Levy's lamp

"One might say that Dubuffet is just another modernist doing what modernists typically did before the 1970's. Modernism reveals a tendency among artists to be influenced by and/or idealize groups and individuals external to the dominant society.

It must be emphasized that when Dubuffet spoke of art brut, or primitivism, or madness, he did so as a member of the art world which was societally external to the people he discussed. We do not hear the voices of the people who made the work, we do not see the work; in short, we are not provided with any other interpretation except that of Dubuffet. Dubuffet's discourse about art brut puts him in a dominant position to it--as the describer, he assumes the power of its definition. He might extol the virtues of art brut, it might have been the seat of originality or authenticity for him, but at the same time, it is something that he is discussing, explaining, defining. That art brut needs to be described, that Dubuffet was compelled to speak about it, reflects its inferiority--it needs a voice, his voice, and has none of its own. Art brut's exteriority to the cultural art establishment is overcome through Dubuffet's narrative which positions and explains it..."

taken from here..





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"What’s most interesting about Arik Levy’s work is how conscious he is of trying to give objects a ceremonial or ritualistic quality. He hangs around in shops listening to people, trying to understand why they do or don’t buy something. In a world where everyone moans about storage space, Levy aims to appeal to that emotional impulse that he describes as “I gotta have it”. He could be quoting Ettore Sottsass, who famously advocated the poetic life of objects, with this description of his vase and candleholder: “When a vase is without a flower, what do you do with it? This doesn’t look like a vase when you don’t have a flower in it, it doesn’t look like a candlestick when you don’t have a candle in it. And this is important because it makes people want to live with the object and not to have a candlestick.”

(here)









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