Leira Minors Exhibition, Elliot Gallery, Devonshire.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to visit Baltimore, Maryland and while there I went to the American Visionary Art Museum.

This was an institution devoted to a group of artists who, while largely self taught, are unique in their visionary outlook, which is expressed in their creative productions.

There are a number of terms for these kind of artist, such as "naive art.". At one time the term "primitive" was applied, but that now seems inappropriate.

At any rate, these artists, although unschooled, often have unusual ways of seeing the world, that overrides any lack of skill in rendering the realistic world as we usually see it.

Indeed. their outlook is often a fascinating combination of the visible world along with personal symbols of some kind.

One of the best known naive artists is the Frenchman, Henri Rousseau, who created large, magical paintings of great beauty.

Presently, at the Elliot Gallery in Devonshire, an exhibition of just this kind of visionary outlook is on show.

These are the paintings of Leira Minors, who largely without the knowledge of friends and family, quietly, over many years, created his own visionary world in paint and other materials.

It was only after his death in 1995 that the full extent of what he had done became known.

Minors, like his other visionary counterparts, seems to have had a natural sense of design. many of his works appear flat, not in an uninteresting manner, but more as a flat pattern.

At other times he created mosaic-like works, especially of flowers, in a mix of materials such as paint and egg shell.

Some paintings include a mixture of paint and Bermuda sand, while a large number where made of slices of Bermuda Cedar.

At the east end of the gallery, there is a rectangular painting in blue and black, depicting the upper part of a head, including what appears to be a kerchief.

The bottom part of the face is cut off by a straight line that then becomes part of the light blue background.

I say background, although the bottom part of the painting appear to actually be overlapping the face and thus becomes foreground.

The interesting thing about all this is the way he creates an oscillation between front and back with only a simple, light-blue ground and a few, economically placed lines.

Resting on the edge, at the bottom part of the face is a carefully painted hand.

Nearby, is another blue and black abstracted, figurative painting of two women.

Again, his placement is sensitive, in that he creates interest by not only the actual figures, but also the negative space between. Again, one is conscious of flat pattern.

A third example of his work is a simple depiction of a young girl climbing along the bottom of what appears to be some kind of bridge-like structure.

Again, the work is a flat appearing design, each shape being of a single colour, all delineated by a hard edge that helps give this sense of flatness.

Several works make use of the grain of a piece of wood. Additionally, he makes use of stain in some parts of the design while creating lines by use of a gauge. He simply cuts the line by digging into the board.

In addition to his unique vision, Leira Minors' way of working is also unusual.

Because he was an auto-dictate, he did not follow a known path, be it in his use of subject, technique or material

Most of the frames in this show, were made by the artist, himself, so they too are a part of the original creation. As with his paintings, the frames, too, are unique.

The show continues through August 15, 2007.

Charles Zuill