A Self-Taught Artist in the Tradition of Yves Klein, not Grandma Moses

Featured Artist, Guy Lindenmuth

Not that there's anything wrong with Grandma Moses. Her innocently rendered scenes of rural New England can charm the cynicism off the snootiest SoHo gallery owner. Her life and work are a testament to what can be achieved by anyone regardless of age or circumstance, not to mention the creative possibilities lying there just beyond academic tradition’s often stifling influence.

It wasn't until avant-garde artists rebelled against the European Academies in the early 1900s that self-taught, or folk, artists were even acknowledged as existing. Henri Rousseau, self-taught, late-coming to art, was dismissed during his lifetime (1844 – 1910), yet created some of the most iconic images in all of modern art.

Like Grandma Moses, Rousseau's art hews closely to the general assessment of self-taught artists, once described in this wise by The New York Times, "it is almost by definition an art of edges and intensities, of perspectives often shaped, harshly, by class or race or psychological isolation, producing unpredictably faceted pegs that don't easily fit into a dominant culture's round holes."

One major artist outside even this self-taught "tradition" was French innovator Yves Klein, student of such disparate disciplines as judo and the hermetic Christian sect of Rosicrucianism, noted for his paintings of nudes where the model herself was covered in paint and pressed against the canvas, usually the brilliant blue color that he developed and which bears his name, International Klein Blue.

It's more from this freer, more serendipitous branch of the self-taught tree that Guy Lindenmuth is emerging onto the scene. While most in the self-taught, Outsider, folk, however-you-want-to-describe-it school prefer to create their "edges and intensities" without much analysis, Guy says, "While technically, I would be considered a naïve artist, I am anything but naïve." This self-assessment probably arises from Guy's tendency to be somewhat dissatisfied with much of his work, a characteristic that would smack of nihilism were it not fueled by an intense passion to attain his artistic dream.

He describes himself as, "quite thoroughly self-taught. It has been generally a war of attrition over the years, painting almost every day and throwing out the ones that don't work.

"Friends and family have salvaged some of the pieces over the years," he continues, "it was always nice when someone actually likes something enough to take it and hang it on their wall. I always considered it a privilege to create something that someone else enjoys. Honestly, I don’t particularly like much of my own work, and often pieces end up in the trash. I’ve been trying to stop doing that as much lately."

Clearly, here is an artist earnestly striving to capture a vision just beyond his grasp. For an artist so internally driven that can be frustrating, but Guy's certainty that he will succeed becomes evident when he discusses the principles underlying his effort.

"I'm interested in what one would term pure creation rather than representation," he explains. "I'm not opposed to the depiction of reality, nor do I suppose that abstraction is the best vehicle for expression, I'm not opposed to anything actually. All forms have their place and function. What I mean by pure creation, though, is that while human experience informs the visual projection, the central aspect of the process is more creative than imitative. The artist does not fill up space with meaningless mumbo jumbo, but rather creates spaces for the mind to inhabit.

"My work is concerned with the delicate balance between chaos and order. The intent is to describe the vast depths of human existence through the visual language and process of gesture. Through layers of interaction, a subtle, rhythmic meditation and dance develops where varied organic and geometric equations collide, interact and evolve."

With aspirations this lofty, it's not hard to see why Guy may not be pleased when he feels he hasn't met them.

Beginnings

Born in 1976, Guy grew up in suburban Baltimore, Maryland, in a devout Mormon family. Though he attended a technical high school that emphasized computer technology, Guy's interests ran more to the humanities, mainly religion and mythology. At a fairly early age, he’d already seen beyond the limits of the educational system and, as a self-described slacker, understood that the school curriculum and real learning were, more often than not, two ships passing in the night. Certainly not a requisite for artistic self-realization. The cave painters of Lascaux or those creators who incised cupules into the rocks of Australia had no diplomas.

Guy's own journey to painting began with poetry as a teenager, then to fiction, mostly dabbling in it, before he developed an intense interest in music, specifically the piano and the genre of experimental industrial noise. But, while living in Philadelphia for a time after high school, he became aware of his absolute hatred for bare walls, and so his creative urge shifted from the aural to the visual.

He filled sketchbook after sketchbook, much of it, he describes with his usual tone of frank self-examination, "nonsensical gibberish". Before his parents bought him his first easel, Guy matched their largesse by going out and buying some really expensive brushes, which left him no funds for canvas or paint. Painting, he says, can be an expensive hobby, but it’s now the focal point of his artistic life.

"After developing my techniques, actually rather slowly over the last 10 years, I've made some progress, and now I certainly feel more confident in the direction I'm traveling. I recently quit smoking (the hardest thing I've ever done) and am feeling rather renewed and energetic about synthesizing and solidifying my theories and approaches to art."

"I've recently been reading Kandinsky, and also Joseph Campbell's volume on Oriental Mythology as part of my journey towards understanding artistry as a type of meditation, or in other words, a religious ritual or dance. I'm interested in developing a mature and genuine poetic experience, though I am still struggling with the essential and rather large concepts, namely, dualities like chaos versus order. The most important aspect of an artistic life is developing what I term a 'force of vision', which is linked in a way I guess, to Kandinsky's 'inner necessity.' But it is a cyclic concept, a process of refinement where new processes constantly become possible because of the previous, developing a momentum, a path towards the inner necessity, the artistic vision."

Guy's paintings reflect his philosophical ideas about painting. The dualities he mentions are certainly present — chaotic shapes fighting it out against a calm field. He's experimented with acrylics, oils and watercolors, but prefers oils. Looking into the future, he's also planning to stretch his own canvases using a finer quality Belgian linen, better stretchers and custom made gesso grounds. He feels that pushing the bar as high as possible for his supports will push the bar higher for the imagery that winds up on those supports.

It's one more interesting aspect of Guy's art, particularly in light of the process he uses to create it.

"At first there's a bit of stumbling," he explains. "I'm often not really sure where the composition is going. So I start slashing things up with lines, and then things gradually begin to come clearer. I try to give the painting what it needs in every moment. The fascination with the process becomes a type of meditative trance but sometimes it turns rather disastrous. My painting titled 'Atrocity,' for instance, really didn't have much to do with any particular outside event, or politics. It was more of a realization of disgust after the piece was done. I thought the piece was rather brutal and that it was an atrocity I'm even allowed to paint like this and call it art."

For all Guy's apparent self-criticism, he's more interested in the future. "Old paintings seem like the corpses of last year's thought. Friends and acquaintances stop by and sometimes say they really like this or that piece, but I'm always thinking how I could have done this or that part a little better, or differently. In the end, though, you learn to live without regrets and simply, to use the cliché, go with the flow."

Asked how he sees his role as an artist, Guy replies, "They say that art is the mirror of society and so I figure the job of the artist is to become reflective, and to project the hopes, and also the nightmares, of the generation. I figure the role of the artist is roughly analogous to the ancient sages, shamans and priests. The Tao Te Ching says that the sage has no mind of his own, but rather takes the mind of the people for his own; this is what I mean by becoming reflective."

Path of Future Progress and How Fine Art Registry™ Fits In

Now living just outside of Seattle with his wife, Guy has created a website to give him a stable presence on the internet, which you can visit at www.esozeph.com. From here he can present his work but also publish the essays he plans to write about art history and theory.

Some time ago, he recognized the need to keep track of his growing body of work. This eventually led him to Fine Art Registry™ and this, he considers, an excellent find.

"The FAR® service has helped me organize the business aspect of things an awful lot," he says. "I was surprised that it took me so long to find it. I had been searching the internet for probably six months to a year looking for software tools to help in cataloging and issuing certificates of authenticity. I was even thinking of developing some sort of numbering system on my own when I came across the site. I didn't have to ponder long before joining, and I'm usually quite hesitant regarding things like this, but they simply have a wonderful professional presentation, and are quite affordable also. It's a win-win situation.

"I especially like that patrons can register their purchase. I think it helps to give everyone involved a certain peace of mind that the artwork is a genuine original."

Because of the high volume of traffic on the Fine Art Registry site, more visitors link to an artist's own site, thereby increasing his or her visibility. As Guy's work continues to develop, this will continue to give him added exposure, but though he certainly is interested in selling his work, he's also patient. "I've been accused of underselling my work by quite a few people here and there," he says, "and I suppose the prices are rather low, but I still consider this my 'early' work and I don’t really see any reason to artificially inflate my prices. As I get better over the years and hopefully, gain more of a solid track record, then of course the prices will go up."

The larger aspect of his future plans include, he continues, "a more polished presentation and creating a more distinctive synthesis of organic and geometric abstraction. I plan on occasionally entering juried contests."

Soon, his work will be shown at the Laluna Gallery and Wine Bar in a Washington, DC, suburb where patrons will be able to view his uniquely personal style firsthand. The rest of us can content ourselves with following his development here on the Fine Art Registry website, since his plans also include tagging each new piece as it becomes ready to sell. Either way, we are lucky to be able to follow the emergence of this serious, insightful, passionately committed artist.

As with other self-taught artists who have made their marks, Guy Lindenmuth demonstrates that creative expression is ultimately the product of an individual with desire and a vision, and all the lessons in Academia will never supplant that. You can see proof by visiting Guy's portfolio at www.fineartregistry.com/portfolio/GuyLindenmuth.

— Dan Koon  |  August 16, 2007  |  Print Version - PDF 3.69 Mb

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