Folk Art and Artists
2 total works
Once little known outside of Haiti, Vodou flags (drapo Vodou), dazzling in color and imagery, have become popular commodities in the international art market. Works by such notable Haitian artists as Silva Joseph, Antoine Oleyant, and Yves Telemak now grace the walls of museums, art galleries, and private homes throughout the world. Shimmering with sequins and reflected light, they capture the attention of Vodou practitioners and art lovers alike.
This book about Vodou flags and flagmakers is a striking revelation of the gods (Iwa) that inhabit the Vodou spirit world. The sequined works pictured here combine and juxtapose African symbols with images from Europe and the Americas and form a rich mosaic of ritual art.
Inspired by myths, legends, and unique personal visions, the artists of Vodou flags interweave sacred, time-honored designs with contemporary images as they produce captivating works that are both ancient and modern. Their flags, incorporating ritual drawings, Masonic symbols, and pictures of mermaids and Catholic saints, offer viewers an encounter with the aesthetics, symbolism, and social implications of Vodou.
The spiritual realm reflected in the flags is not the dark, frightening place of black magic and superstition that is stereotyped in popular culture. Instead, drapo exemplify the beauty, elegance, and enduring embrace of gods and ancestors in their present manifestations. The flags are the artists' visual testimonials that the Iwa are present and active in the lives of Vodou practitioners. Patrick Arthur Polk serves as the museum scientist and archivist for the UCLA Folk-lore and Mythology Program.
How creations welded from the scrapheap have become a folk art rage ""Muffler men are the cigar-store Indians of the late 20th century, trade figures made to stand in front of shops to advertise what is sold inside. Both are considered forms of folk art, but the skinny metal figures with shimmering muffler heads and torsos and pipe-thin legs found outside auto repair shops are wittier, more imaginative and flamboyantly painted. . . ."" -Rita Reif, The New York Times Art can appear in the most unexpected places. Muffler men, for example, have become one of the most striking and remarkable of recent folk art creations. From Walla Walla to Daytona quirky mannikins constructed from discarded automobile mufflers are popping up across America. Cobbled together as business signposts, these comical sculptures are sprouting outside automotive repair shops everywhere. Car debris harmonizes with human anatomy as rusty cast-offs assume a new identity as savvy objets d'art. Signage turns into art as mechanics fashion cowboys, dogs, robots, space aliens, and a host of other creatures from metal scraps of the profession and with the aid of their workaday tools and acetylene. If for only a passing moment, the muffler men enliven the roadside and help to break up the monotony of daily commutes. More than mere advertisements, they interact with their communities by greeting the passerby. The significance of muffler sculptures turns profound when they become local celebrities and are hailed as community landmarks. But what do they mean? For the creative mechanic who made them they are exclamatory signposts and store mascots. For the academic folklorists who analyze them they are symbolic icons with cultural meanings that proclaim individual identity and group membership. For the collectors who treasure them they are exemplars of ""outsider art."" For most nonspecialists who wave as they speed past they are funky delights. This colorful book documents the widespread appeal of muffler men as a form of occupational art that enriches the workplace, the local environment, and now the art gallery. Timothy Corrigan Correll is a folklorist whose research focuses on material behavior and folk belief. Patrick Arthur Polk serves as the museum scientist and archivist for the UCLA Folklore and Mythology Archives.