VISIONARY REVUE

THE INVERSE
CLAUDE VERLINDE

      Schlesser's words remind us that the landscapes or starscapes seen here are, in truth, 'inscapes' - the interior landscapes that we all may see and explore through the visions behind our eyes. Through his ecstatic visions, the artist has reached beyond the limits of earthbound sight, and expressed in the light of distant galaxies that supreme joy which expands to all corners of the universe.

END OF PART I

      In Part II of this article we will examine the Fantastic artists working in France today, such as - Claude Verlinde, André Martins de Barros, Jean Bailly, Marc Halingre, Monica Fagan, Ellen Lorien, Jean-Pierre Alaux, Judson Huss, Christian Lepere and Gil Bruvel. We will also cross France's borders to investigate Swiss and Belgian artists like Erik Heyninck and Juri Siomash.
      Meanwhile, those artists who have explored the grotesque, erotic, hallucinatory and macabre will not be forgotten: - Sibylle Ruppert, Jean-Marie Poumeyrol, Lukas Kandl, Ljuba and Dado. This naturally leads us to les Hors-Marginaires, certain 'marginal' visionaries, many of them forgotten today: Nicolas Kalmakoff, Robb Julen, Jean-Philippe Couprie and Jacques le Marechal. As well, a few Outsider artists like le Facteur Cheval and Robert Tatin will be considered. We will even explore, briefly, les bandes dessinées (comic book) artists like Druillet and Moebius.
      Finally, the highly polemicized and controversial situation of Visionary art in France will be discussed: the various galleries, organizations and groups whose efforts to promote this kind of art have met with so much resistance from other organizations and even the state.

PARIS - FALL 2004

STRANGE MANIPULATIONS
LUKAS KANDL

REMERCIEMENTS

      I would like to take the time here to thank some of the people who have helped with this article: Gregoire Massoneau for his interview with Ugarte and his shared enthusiasm; Jacques Noel of Un Regard Moderne for digging out long-lost monographs amid the piles of books in his shop in the Latin Quarter; Laurent Brimardi of Rose Noire magazine for difficult-to-find information; and especially those artists who have invited me into their studios to discuss and look at art late into the night: Michel Henricot, Pierre Peyrolle, Yves Thomas, Claude Verlinde, Lukas Kandl, André Martins de Barros and Ellen Lorien. To Florence Ménard a special thanks for help in translations et pour un esprit commun qui transcende toutes les limites.

                                                L. Caruana