unframed

A Collector’s Quest reader contacted me recently, with a question about art. Her father had acquired an original Burnette Pletan, which had passed into her posession. She fondly remembered the painting on the wall, and hoped to display it again. However, she would like to display it un-framed, because the Masonite backing is part of the charm.

Remember Pletan? I wrote about him last year, in an article on outsider art. Burnette billed himself as the Fastest Artist In The World, producing large paintings in mere minutes and selling them before they were barely dry. His style, slapped on to sheets of Masonite with the kind of painter’s brushes you find at Menard’s, has enormous personality and charm, even if its not exactly high art. The uniqueness of his medium — store-grade acrylic paints, Krylon da-glo spraypaint, house-painting brushes, Masonite — also make his paintings quite recognizeable.

So, the question: how to display a Pletan painting, without covering the edge? Obviously, framing will obscure it, so that should be avoided. I spoke with my archival-framing expert, Joan Loughridge of Dry Creek Gold Leaf, Inc., and she had an idea. First, though, Joan points out that framing is the best way to protect the painting from damage, and should always be the first choice. If framing is out of the question, though, Joan suggested placing the painting on an easel for display.

The traditional ‘easel’, imagining beret-wearing painters strolling down Parisian streets with a three-legged easel under their arm, is probably not the best suggestion for displaying a completed work of art. Easels specifically made for showing works of art are called ‘display easels’, and come in a wider variety of styles and structure to accommodate all sizes of art and provide a sturdier support for the work. I would recommend going with a ‘H’ style of easel, one built with right-angles, rather than a tripod one, to support the art.

If you can’t afford the floorspace for a large display easel, there are a couple ways I’ve found to display art like this. The first, and probably simplest way, is to install a plate rail on the wall, and set the art on it. A “plate rail,” as it sounds, is usually used to display your Franklin Mint plates for all to see. It’s a very narrow shelf with a ‘groove’ running along the leading edge of the shelf surfave. Plates, or other flat displayables, rest their bottom edge in the groove, so they don’t slide off, and lean against the wall for support. If the Pletan artwork is short enough, attaching a plate rail longer than the width of the painting should give support without covering up the edges. “Short enough” is the key: the taller the painting, the steeper the angle of the painting against the wall. If the angle is too steep (the painting is too upright), a breeze, or even just shifting in the house, could cause the painting to fall off. The deeper the plate rail, the safer it will be.

The last suggestion I have is to use an art hanging system. Museums and private homes alike use them as easily-changeable, stylish ways of displaying art on a wall. They consist of attaching a modern picture-rail high up on the wall, with supports hanging down. Adjustable hooks on the supports allow art to be positioned and repositioned anywhere along the supports or the rail. Make sure to get a display system like the one pictured on the right, with small shelves or hooks that support the work; many of the display systems are designed to hang frames in a traditional way, via a wire on the back of the frame, which will not work in this case. This system also supports the top edge of the work, reducing the risk of falling that you would have with the plate-rail. Since most Pletan paintings are wider than the frames in the picture, you can line up two (or more) rods, even up the support clips, and the painting will be safely supported against sliding out or falling.

Because Pletan’s works are painted right to the edge, any display method that places pressure directly on the edge of the work might result in paint chipping. This does include framing, so in any case velveteen ribbon or a felt pad should be used to reduce the amount of wear on the painted edge of the work.

Around seven years ago, my family gave me the gift of art. Unlike most twenty-somethings, I wanted real art on my walls – something actually produced by the hands of a human, not a print. At the time I owned a variety of works, some genuinely old and valuable, but others of the ’starving artist travelling sale’ genre. The art from my parents was mostly of the latter, but one was a bit different. Unframed, sloppily painted on a piece of Masonite, was a winter scene. The story goes that my great-uncle bought it directly from the artist some years before while travelling, and gifted it to my parents some time later. I’d never seen the painting before, which showed my parent’s take on the painting, but I accepted it and planned on getting it framed. Because it was an odd size, large but poorly proportioned, I risked spending lots at a professional framer, so it was put in storage.

Some years later I was browsing a junk store in Wisconsin, when I found something strikingly familiar: two sloppy unframed paintings on Masonite, quite obviously by the same artist. I wasn’t 100-percent sure, but the price was right, so I took them home with me.

According to the family rule, three of anything constitutes a collection. Not wanting to seem an ignorant collector, I decided to find out something about the painter. Two of the paintings were signed “Pletan,” and thanks to Google I found out where my art came from.

ExpressoTILT! has what appears to be the only article on the internet pertaining to the artist, but thankfully it’s quite complete. Burnette G Pletan was, according to the article, the “Fastest Painter In The World,” producing thousands and thousands of works of art in his lifetime. Here, I managed to own three of them, and given the scale of his portfolio, it’s quite surprising not to find more about him online. Burnette took up painting as a career simply because he knew he could do it. Without official training or artistic background, his works could be called folk or outsider art.

“Outsider Art” is a term generically used to describe untrained artists creating works based on their own creativity, and in earlier times was attributed to art created by the mentally ill. Today, it’s mostly used as a hipster term to describe anything on the fringes of the artistic community by untrained artists, but it still bears the stigma, based on the term ‘outsider’, of being excluded from the genuine art community. It also often crosses the lines of ‘folk art,’ a style generally culturally-driven and created by untrained small-scale artisans. Pletan, for example, could fall into either category: his art depicts rural scenes, much like a lot of folk art, but his expressive, ultra-fast style of painting and unique media puts his work more towards ‘outsider art’.

The biggest advantage to an art collector is the price: outsider art is generally cheap to come by. Challenging Pletan’s claims of high art volume, Steve Keene considers himself America’s most prolific artist, producing hundreds of paintings in a sitting. On his website, for $12, anyone can purchase one of his works (provided they don’t care what the painting’s subject matter is). While Keene is moving towards the center of the art world, leaving the fringes via exhibitions and media exposure, many “street artists” in large cities sell their art for enough to get by. eBay’s outsider art category is full of artistic hopefuls, many of which appear to be painted deliberately outsidery by trained artists, but as with any eBay shopping excursion careful examination will yield a modern treasure.

Because ‘outsider art’ is primarily a description of the artist rather than the style of art, the variety to choose from is quite large. Due to the lack of refined training much does appear ’sloppy’, but much of modern art today, such as Pollack, emphasises the emotion of the work over realism. The lack of training also reduces the use of artistic metaphors, which makes outsider art much more appealing to the general public.

As a collectible, the volume and price of outsider art available allows most anybody to start and maintain a sizeable and varied collection. As with any collections, the cardinal rule applies: collect what you enjoy. Because of its uniqueness, outsider art begs to be displayed, so be sure you’re willing to look at the work on a daily basis. Since outsider art is rarely found in mainstream outlets, much of the fun is in finding it by frequenting ‘art in the park’ sales, flea markets, or street vendors. As with mainstream art, there’s no guarante that any particular artist will become more valuable than the others, but for the price there’s minimal risk in overspending. A Pletan painting recently sold on eBay for just under $100, and an independent seller is asking for over $2,000 for a particularly nice Pletan painting. While Steve Keene’s paintings aren’t particularly rare, the attention his work is geting will no doubt increase the value of his works as time goes on. Consider also Grandma Moses, who, in her seventies, took up painting because arthritis interfered with her needlework, and over time her works because quite valuable, earning her awards and accolades. Beyond these examples are a wide variety of artists,drawing on nothing more than their own imagination to create beautiful and interesting works of art – far more accessible than the works exhibited in galleries, but in my opinion, definitely better than the prints and posters hanging in most homes. Jump into the unknown, and find some outsider art; at the very least, knowing where the painting came from is worth the price.