David Rucli

Scarecrow, Large Street Art Oil Painting by David Rucli

circa 1989

Scarecrow Jovan Obican French/Yugoslavian (1918–1986) Date: 1983 Oil on Canvas, signed l.l. Size: 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm) Frame Size: 43 x 32.5 inches

Samuel Iztueta, American - El Cuadvado, Year: 2013, Medium: Oil and Acrylic on Canvas, signed and titled with writing verso, Size: 60 x 48 in. (152.4 x 121.92 cm)

Lazar Obican 1944-2004 Genre: Other Subject: People Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Dimensions: 35" x 16.5 Dimensions w/Frame: 35.5" x 17.25 An impasto composition that depicts a colorful scarecrow clown with a bird perched on his shoulder with a bottle of French Vin (wine) Artist signature L OBICAN to bottom and dated 1968. Title to verso. Work Size: 36 x 25 in. Framed 37.5 x 26 x 1 in The artist Lazar Obican iconic style is child-like yet masterfully adult; a style that tells a story with sociological overtones. His funny little people are always colorful, full of spirit, living with music and birds to bring them happiness. Lazar Obican artist, painter, sculpture and mosaic ceramic artisan was born in Cannes, France, to his Yugoslavian family. He finished his training, imbued with the spirit of his native country, the people, their legends, and their philosophy. It has been said that his work has a "timeless quality" and a naive, folk art, outsider art brut quality, child-like primitive style. Obican is identified with his style the world over, a style that is simple yet sophisticated; child-like yet masterfully adult; a style that tells a story with psychological, philosophical or sociological overtones. His funny little people are always colorful, full of spirit, living with music and birds to bring them happiness. Best known for his depictions of folklore and traditional costumes rendered in a playful, childlike style and for his happy Jewish wedding scenes. He often used bright colors and black outlines in his renderings of figures and animals, giving his work an illustration-like quality. Thematically, the artist’s work is similar to Marc Chagall and Jean Dubuffet for its dreamlike images and so-called naïve style of painting. Over the course of his career, the artist maintained a studio in Boca Raton, Florida and Dubrovnik, Croatia—part of former Yugoslavia— where he developed an interest in Eastern Europe’s Jewish culture. Many of his mature works depict Jewish traditions and ceremonies, including traditional Jewish weddings, the dancing of the Hora, and traditional music. There is a display of his works in his former Dubrovnik studio. His style is a unique conglomerate of tradition, history, legends, heroes, old customs and folklore. It is a self-standing style, recognizable, cheerful, whimsical and a happy creation. Naïve art is any form of visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal education and training that a professional artist undergoes (in anatomy, art history, technique, perspective, ways of seeing). Unlike folk art, naïve art does not necessarily evince a distinct cultural context or tradition. Naïve art is recognized, and often imitated, for its childlike simplicity and frankness. Paintings of this kind typically have a flat rendering style with a rudimentary expression of perspective. One particularly influential painter of "naïve art" was Henri Rousseau (1844–1910), a French Post-Impressionist who was discovered by Pablo Picasso. Naïve art is often seen as outsider art that is by someone without formal (or little) training or degree. While this was true before the twentieth century, there are now academies for naïve art. Naïve art is now a fully recognized art genre, represented in art galleries worldwide. Museums devoted to naïve art now exist in Kecskemét, Hungary; Riga, Latvia; Jaen, Spain; Rio de Janeiro, Brasil; Vicq France and Paris. "Primitive art" is another term often applied to art by those without formal training, but is historically more often applied to work from certain cultures that have been judged socially or technologically "primitive" by Western academia, such as Native American, sub saharan African or Pacific Island art (see Tribal art). This is distinguished from the self-conscious, "primitive" inspired movement primitivism. Another term related to (but not completely synonymous with) naïve art is folk art. There also exist the terms "naïvism" and "primitivism" which are usually applied to professional painters working in the style of naïve art (like Paul Gauguin, Mikhail Larionov, Paul Klee). At all events, naive art can be regarded as having occupied an "official" position in the annals of twentieth-century art since - at the very latest - the publication of the Der Blaue Reiter, an almanac in 1912. Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, who brought out the almanac, presented 6 reproductions of paintings by le Douanier' Rousseau (Henri Rousseau), comparing them with other pictorial examples. However, most experts agree that the year that naive art was "discovered" was 1885, when the painter Paul Signac became aware of the talents of Henri Rousseau and set about organizing exhibitions of his work in a number of prestigious galleries. The Earth Group (Grupa Zemlja) were Croatian artists, architects and intellectuals active in Zagreb from 1929 to 1935. The group included the painters Krsto Hegedušić, Edo Kovačević, Omer Mujadžić, Kamilo Ružička, Ivan Tabaković, and Oton Postružnik, the sculptors Antun Augustinčić, Frano Kršinić, and the architect Drago Ibler. A term applied to Yugoslav (Croatian) naive painters working in or around the village of Hlebine, near the Hungarian border, from about 1930. Some of the best known naive artists are Dragan Gaži, Ivan Generalić, Josip Generalić, Krsto Hegedušić, Mijo Kovačić, Ivan Lacković-Croata, Franjo Mraz, Ivan Večenaj and Mirko Virius. Camille Bombois (1883–1970) Ferdinand Cheval, known as 'le facteur Cheval' (1836–1924) Henry Darger (1892–1973) L. S. Lowry (1887–1976) Grandma Moses, Anna Mary Robertson...

Oil on board realized by Luciano Schifano (1943) in 1987. Hand signed and titled. Good condition.