NEW YORK, NY.- Joseph Kurhajec, an American Art Brut artist based in France, will exhibit “Crocodile Sex,” a collection of recent works at the Outsider Art Fair in New York, January 18-21.
Currently obsessed by crocodiles, their survival instincts, strength and symbolism, Mr. Kurhajec is presenting a series of brutalistic table-top sculptures, paintings and out-sized masks with that theme.
Historically, the artist’s works have been characterized by animistic leanings that transcend art world trends. His work is strong, raw, and uninhibited by a concern for pleasantry or comfort.
While most artists evolve to become more comples, Mr. Kurhajec transitioned the other way. Once an on-trend artist sought out by the Whitney Museum of American Art for one of its Young Artists shows, he abandoned convention as his spirit led and evolved into to a compulsive, artist whose environments range from a decade long series on the Shroud of Turin to installations populated by rows of ceramic World War II torpedos.
His masks, generally composed of found objects overlaid with shells, coconut husks, and any number of regional flora judiciously pigmented, are profound reminders of the transforming powers associated with wearable imagery. Laurent Danchin, the recently deceased Raw Vision art critic, was often photographed in his writer’s study beneath a mask by Joe Kurhajec.
Mr. Kurhajec’s works reside in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the MacDonald’s collection, the Menil Collection and the Musee Art Brut Montpellier. He is also represented in the Dr. David Butterfield Sculpture Garden, Provincetown Art Association and Art Museum, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY, La Coopérative Collection Ceres Franco in France. His works were also part of Sotheby’s $55M sale of the collection of Tribal Art Collector and dealer Allen Stone.
Compulsive in his work, Mr. Kurhajec is equally as irresistibly drawn to art fairs and public exhibitions that show his works. During the Outsider Art Fair, he will be on hand daily from mid-afternoon to closing to discuss his work with collectors at the booth of French dealer Galerie Pol Lemétais.
The Outsider Art Fair runs from January 18-21 at Chelsea’s Metropolitan Pavillion, 125 W. 25th Street, New York, NY.
