ABCD

cí a pořádání přednášek. Napodobování se u nich tedy, na rozdíl od intelektuálů, vyskytuje jen nepatrně nebo vůbec. Vše – náměty, výběr materiálů, způsob podání, rytmus, rukopis atd. – vychází přímo z jejich nitra a nikoliv z šablon klasického či módního umění.“

Jean Dubuffet, L’art brut préféré aux arts culturels, 1949


Art brut, které výtvarný teoretik Karel Teige překládal jako "umění v původním - surovém stavu“, zahrnuje výtvarné projevy lidí, kteří neprošli uměleckým vzděláním. Jejich tvůrčí představivost tak není omezena naučenými kánony, módou, či snahou zařadit se do určitého směru, ale proniká na povrch zcela spontánně přímo z podvědomí autora. Tvůrčí potenciál bývá často uvolněn díky duševní chorobě, prožitému otřesu, nebo třeba díky psychickému vytržení, jež dosahují spiritistická média. Jedná se o přímou osobní zpověď autora, která není regulována intelektuální autocenzurou. Autoři art brut výtvarnými prostředky zpracovávají svoji vnitřní realitu, aniž by při tom usilovali o uznání okolí. Tvorba je pro ně přirozenou životní funkcí, je pro ně nepostradatelná.
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Civic Association ABCD

Civic Association ABCD (o.s. ABCD) was founded in 2002 as an affiliated organization of the French body of the same name, associating people pursuing Art Brut either as professionals or amateurs. The role of the association is rather clear from its subtitle: Art Brut – Connaissance et Diffusion = discovering and propagating Art Brut. Its mission is to study this tendency in art work, to promote the collection art brut – abcd, to search for new artists, organize exhibitions, initiate and publish professional works related to Art Brut (both translations and original Czech texts), and to hold lectures. The main goal of the Civic Association ABCD is to establish an Art Brut gallery/museum in Prague. The association collaborates with professional galleries in the Czech Republic and abroad, makes the most significant Art Brut collections from around the world available to the Czech public and aims at presenting these works in unusual ways.
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WHAT IS ART BRUT?
“It is works created by people untouched by art and culture. Their subjects, selection of materials, ways of expression, rhythm and morphology stem directly from their inner feelings instead the moulds of classical and fashionable art. Here, we witness the pure and authentic artistic act whose every stage is a genuine product of its author and only the result of his own creative impulses.”
Jean Dubuffet, Art brut préféré aux arts culturels (Better Art Brut than Cultural Art), 1949

During the 1940s, the French artist and theoretician Jean Dubuffet and his friends – Max Ernst, Paul Eluard, André Breton and others – indulged in collecting works created by people totally distant from the academic milieu, and began to coin the term ART BRUT – “raw art” for their achievements. Raw (rough, authentic) art, because it is spontaneously created by people who have nothing in common with schools of art. Raw, because it remains unaffected by art tendencies, styles and orientations. Raw, because if often rises from the genius of insanity or from the edge of society inhabited by people incarcerated by their solitude. It is their inward, intrinsic and vital need to create, equally inevitable as, say, sleeping and eating. It is the reflection of their inward worlds and is subordinated to the laws and natural relations solely determined by no one but themselves. The works of Art Brut are many times born automatically, as if the hand of their creators was guided by some force from the outside. Some artists have helplessly fallen prey to hallucinations caused by mental illness; others abandoned their subject position willingly and, sensing the existence of different worlds, set off to meet the impulses arriving from there. Here, we are faced with mysterious mementos from the archaic memory of humanity, but also the question as to the line between mental illness and normality. Even if we deciphered all the particular symbols hidden in these works, we will never be able to completely unveil the secret which links them.