“The reason we have magnifying glasses over here is because you need them to read it.  These are all words.”,  said curator Robert Bullock of Justin Duerr‘s infinitesimally tiny writing composing the lines of his drawing.  “What he did here is what motivates the best of us, it’s doing something without really understanding what’s going to come of it, without motivation or expectation, everyone should have the freedom to do something they feel that passionate about.  We get pressured into doing what is expected and the money that comes from it, whereas an indirect relationship is just fine with patience.”   Justin Duerr‘s drawings are created with very simple, easy to get materials: markers, pens and rolls of paper.  People want to know how long they take to make, the evidence of time spent drawing is intense, it’s difficult to comprehend unless your mind can accept and follow each line, narrative and image as man made.  “He drinks a lot of coffee, working at 3:00 AM, all night sometimes and he works a day job, painting houses and doing carpentry work.  It’s only three days a week, because he wants it that way, because he wants to do this.  He’s also got like six musical projects going on, he plays in bands, goes on tour.”

Justin Duerr, Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Gardens

Justin Duerr, Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Gardens

“I lived for a year at sea.”  Justin Duerr said.  On a fishing boat in the Bering Sea working 16 hour days without rest for three months at a time.  “A lot of people never get to do that, so I got some real sailor tattoos.”  Duerr explained the intriguing design in his drawing, The Moment at the Station, ” The spirals are called logarithmic spirals and I discovered that I was able to draw these free-hand and I didn’t know what I was drawing when I started them initially.  I was into making concentric circles then I found that if I took a line and crossed each square in the squares that the circles make that I could make these really nice spirals.  Then I found out this is a pattern that appears in nature, you know snail shells, galaxies, weather patterns and there is an audio equivalent of this called the shepard tone, there was a classical composer, I believe it was Bach who used the shepard tone.  And it’s this whole thing, you can go all kinds of different places with it.  I felt like I was channeling some primal force of nature, then I found out from the book Stephen Wolfrum’s  A New Kind of Science , what he would say is an underlying current of nature that will blossom out if no force reigns it in.  Galaxies are shaped that way because they’re in the vacuum of space, maybe there’s a pull from a distant galaxy but it’s still very far away so basically they form their own pattern based on an internal mechanism, so they form that pattern.”

Justin Duerr, The Moment at the Station,Visionaires at Philadelphia Magic Gardens

Justin Duerr is the subject of the new film, Resurrect Dead, the Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, by Jon Foy opening September 8th in Philadelphia at International House.  Director Jon Foy said he met Justin through a prank phone call.  “Summer of 2000, we were pranking his room mate but Justin and I just hit if off so I said lets make a movie.  Five years later we started shooting.”  The film won a directing award documentary 2011 at Sundance Film Festival.  If you don’t know what a Toynbee tile is you will be surprised to know you’ve seen them if you live in Philadelphia.

Jim Bloom, Sunday n the Park with George, Visionaires @ Philadlphia Magic Gardens

Jim Bloom, Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Gardens

Renee Leshner, Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Gardens

David Kime. Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Gardens

David Kime, Heads on Platters, Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Gardens

David Kime uses found materials like utility wire, CDs, vinyl albums and photographs to create his collages.  “I cut them up, basically, and put them together.  I’m taking a drawing course but I’m like scared of it.  I can’t draw, I’m an assembly man, I’m not like somebody who would draw your face, your portrait, I just assemble things.  I took a 3d design course which I really liked but I think the drawing is more challenging.  I’ve been doing sculpture for a long time but that’s different.”  David Kime‘s collages look fantastical in the purple galleries of Isaiah Zagar’s Magic Garden, the esthetic of the surroundings and the bold statement pieces by David Kime makes a fabulous visual sensory overload.  The surrounding tiles echo the collage in a way that is satisfying yet stimulating, inspiring and thought provoking.

David Kime, Sister Roseanne, Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Gardens

Walter Oates, Jr., Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Garden

Edward Woltemate, Jr., Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Gardens

Edward Woltemate, Jr. has a lifelong interest in space and the possibility of extra-terrestrial life.  On the back of each piece is a legend providing keys and clues to the planets’ location, climate, distance from other planets, the distance from Woltemate’s planet and some references to “parallel universes”.  The legends are as engrossing as Edward Woltemate, Jr’s intricate paintings and collage, I found myself tearing up at the deep thought, the projection out of the self, transcendental thinking and the beautiful response the artist presents to the information he gleans on his cosmic thought trips.  “Edward and his wife Elaine travel extensively, photographing and observing new locations to be blended into his art.”

Edward Woltemate, Jr., Legend, Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Garden.

Edward Woltemate, Jr.,The Planet Pujrahticec, Visionaires @ Philadelphia Magic Garden.

The Visionaires, The Coalition Ingenu Self-Taught Artists’ Collective at Philadelphia Magic Gardens is an inspired pairing of art and space, Isaiah Zagar said he was thrilled with the result and Robert Bullock said it was a dream come true.  Susan Norris, Bullocks’s wife said, “It’s absolutely amazing.  Robert has known about the Magic Garden for a long time and he always felt this was the place for us.  And about a year ago he really started trying to get in,  I wouldn’t say aggressive but very intense.  He did it, he’s a perfectionist and he made all the frames himself.  Everything is framed by him in our little carriage house in West Philly.  I’ve spoken to Isaiah and he feels the way we both feel, that it’s a perfect fit and match with each other.  His space and our work, this is a feather in our cap to be here, I’m over the moon.  Really thrilled.”

You will be, too.

Read a review of Resurrect Dead – The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles by Side Arts Contributing Writer, Carina Giamerese.

DoN Brewer, Contributing Writer, Side Arts

Photographs by DoN Brewer.

Resurrect Dead – The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles