Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
ULBRICHT
E
In his article, Wilson (1974a) compared J.C.'s prolific At first glance, J.C's spontaneous art appeared to be
production to Kreitler and Kreitler's {1972) homeoslatic model very unusual to modernist researchers and teachers. The
of motivation that assumes optimal conditions for existence fact that there was so much more in the form of stories,
and survival, establishing equilibrium between overly boring plots, and symbols made J.C.'s work look imaginative,
and stimulating activities. The Kreitlers theorized that inventive, and expressive from Wilson's perspectives.
repeated activities became redundant, and thus, people
Modernists also believed in the use of acclaimed
sought new and more stimulating experiences. According to
"exemplary" models to guide research and teaching
Wilson, J.C's motivation came from Ms strong predisposition
practices. Observers could easily see that J.C. had advanced
for fantasy, an acute need for non-redundant stimulation, and
symbolic and technical abilities and after evaluating J.C.'s
a strong need to avoid boredom.
art, Wilson possihiy felt tJiat he had found a young artist who
Wilson also looked at J.C.'s spontaneous art through the was a model for other students, researcher's, and teachers.
research of Victor Turner (1967; undated) who wrote about Classifications of children's art often paralleled the work of
the ludic continuum that spanned from luminal (ritualistic) famous artists. Wilson may have found J.C.'s comics of
to limuloid (play-like) activities. Wilson hypothesized that a interest because they were similar to the pop art of styles of
school-spontaneous art continuum was similar to Turner's Roy Lichtenstein and Roger Brown. Wilson knew about
continuum. Wilson encouraged teachers to incorporate Lichtenstein through a filend at The Ohio State University and
spontaneous art in school art instruction, and he hypothesized he later leamed about Roger Brown's (Gedo, 1990) cartoon-like
Ihat students found self-initiated spontaneous art more art during a visit to the Phyllis Kind Gallery in 1974.
enjoyable than school art.
Wilson also may have found J.C.'s con\ics of interest because
Wilson (1976; 1979) and Wilson and Wilson (1977) extended of concurrent observations of his son Dirk, who at the age of 7
their observations in several articles with Gombrioh's (1960) also liked to draw in a comic-book style. Wilson became increas-
appropriation concepts. Wilson (1976) cited examples of ingly aware of how highly motivated some kids were to make
several artists who leamed to draw by co[)ying graphic images their own graphic narratives. Clearly, Wilson had several reasons
and he concluded that child art was a cultural product that for looking at J.C.'s ait in the early 197()s.
varied from one culture to the next.
Mil. I tm,
lirWtSSES AHT - J C Holi 10 VSil »< 1 'Ki^ *«>™'l**"i«»"'«l««'O !" ^ n
(l,»ll^llll!H «fni dr.i"!- Mipi-r hi-ri»'». i-ilk..
j j l II till hi-Mi-lri»lorK,iiph tllM.n,iif Wil
Draws Suoerheroes
J.C. also said that he did not find his K-12 education
Reviews Art Of J.C. Holz JO ,imb ii'iiturrr ,mi1 bikt- ,i iil.j>
to be especially challenging or interesting.... While
nini*[i,i^i.> inil-NimiiihiTcd
ilKiii ro.tri<rn(tl<' TIst-SiiiH-r-
Wilson rppiinv ihJi ,1. r,
di»Mi'l lltink ol hUnsHi waiting for the next lesson and assignment in school,
heroes [j( J C. Holi" .i C, 10 ;ini*(. '•IVrh;>i)s-nmr i
--.•n .if ihf (^r.mk Hi>lr
VVilli^jm^iiir^ :iil(>n<ls Hie
" i l l Uenuiir on.-, liui
prrsriu. an tarhini n i i i he would daydream and stare out the window and
Wiiltjiiisbur^ ('iiinntiJ"H,v ^a.',"
st'tKWi. • Mj- smiitliijftl i j i i -
conceive of his comic stories and characters.
Postmodern Analysis Visual Culture
Although many of Wilson's child art interests were consistent Today, many academics from journalism to art history are
with modernist trends, some were postmodernist, although concerned with visual culture. Many who study the effects of
scholars did not use the term at the time. Postmodernists attempt \isual culture have positive and negative points of view. Many
to deal with the effects of increasing technology and often appro- business leaders, advertisers, and graphic artists welcome the
priate popular visual imagery to express autobiographical and expansion of visual culture because of its ability to cater to the
social concems (Risatti, 1990). In postmodern art, one can fmd developing and perceived needs of mass audiences. Because of
art that makes a difference in the world, connects art and life visual culture's pervasiveness, some educators (Duncum, 2002)
through self-reflection and transformation, and expands the fear the loss of a belief in and opportunities for personal
definitions of who can make art to involve collaboration and expression.
wider viewer participation (Taylor, 2002). Wilson (2004) provides evidence that visual culture influences
J.C.'s comic book drawings fit many of these characteristics children and their art. J.C. confirmed this when he said in a
in that they used and were concerned with narrative popular WiUiaiiisbury.Journal Tribune (February21,1974) article,
imagery. J.C.'s drawing process was collaborative in that he I leamed how to draw characters by reading comic books.
bought and traded his source material from friends and lot al I have been reading them for seven years. I created over 200
merchants. He enlisted the help of friends and was motivated by superheroes. It took me all summer when we lived in an
and leamed from peer and adult feedback. apaitment [behind my pai"ent5 cleaning business on the
While looking at J.C.'s art., we could see how he used popular square] and I didn't have much to do. Someday, I might
culture to define himself and his world. In his art, J.C. seemed to create a movie using my characters.
have unconsciously anticipated Ihings such as his growing sexual Today, one can find individuals who imitate what they see in
awareness, reiationsiiips with females, and peer power struggles. visual culture, while others use it for expressive and reconstruc-
He contemplated the consequences of good and evil behaviors, tive purposes. Wilson (2004) hypothesized that children go
and in various instances tapped into mythical and psychoanalyt- through three phases of artistic development. In the first phase,
ical themes which are all parts of everyday life. children discover, through graphic play, images that, correspond,
•J. UlbHcht is a Professor in the Visual Studies/Art Education ^In addition to the front-page WiUiamsburg Joui-nal Tribune
(Eebniary 21, 1974) an icie, additional articles about the exltibition
Division, Department ofArt, and Art History^ Univeisity of appeared in 'Ilie Cedar Rapids Ga^p/^c (Sunday, P>bniary 24, 1974 and
Te.ras at Austin. E-mail: j.ulbricht@inail.utexas.edu December 12, 1975) and Tlie Pioneer-Republic (DefpmbeT2i\, 1974).
'^Interviews conducted between April 2,2004 and August 14,2004 were
supported with a travel grant froiu tbe Department of Art and Art
History, The I 'niversity of Texas at Austin.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Each of tlie comic book cover reproductions in this article (Given
Lantern, Kaniaiidi, im(\Sw(inii> lliing) is used by the publisher to
illustrate teaching, scholarship, and research points in accordance
witli tlie "fair use" provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law section 17.
C'oniic books are from the collection of J.C. Holz.