Outsider Art: Tim West to Be Featured at Fayetteville Underground

Courtesy of Diana Michelle Hausam
ON THE COVER
Tim West poses next to one of his many sculptures he’s made out on his 80 acres of land in Winslow, Ark.

For about 40 years, Tim West lived in the woods of Winslow, Ark. where he would spend his time making countless etchings and sculptures.

Just by the look of him, it would be easy to write the man off as a kooky old hermit who hid himself from the world. Truth is, he has a masters in art from Southern Illinois University, and his artwork has an impressive following in Little Rock.

West’s artwork is often times dirty or soiled from neglect or misplacement, but that’s part of its key character. The pieces have mixed media, often just with colored markers, glue, pencils or whatever he could find at the Winslow convenience store. A lot of his work involves several colorful depictions of imagined landscapes and fantasies. Some artwork later on depicted a lot of sexuality and even some taboo things such as bondage and sado-masochism.

The world didn’t know much about West until Diana Michelle Hausam stumbled upon him and his work in 2007. After meeting, Hausam soon dedicated her time to documenting, distributing and promoting West’s work alongside her photography to galleries throughout Arkansas.

West died four years ago and while several documentary shorts have been made about him, Hausam seeks to complete a feature-length documentary on his life and his work.

The first 15 minutes of the feature-length documentary “Westland” will be shown alongside artwork by West and photography by Hausam at the Fayetteville Underground at the artist’s reception on June 9 at 7 p.m. The art will be on display throughout June.

For all artwork that’s sold, the funds will go toward the completion of “Westland.” Hausam will soon be starting an Indiegogo fundraising campaign to pay for entry fees to film festivals.

Courtesy of Tim West
Much of Tim West’s art are etchings made with markers and colored pencils, whatever he could get his hands on.

We got the chance to speak with Hausam about the upcoming exhibit and ask her about the art of Tim West.

TFW: How did you find out about Tim?

HAUSAM: In 2007, I was driving around Winslow and looking for stuff to take pictures of. I used to take a lot photos of abandoned buildings and stuff like that. I saw the fence he had made out of bicycles. He wasn’t around, and I wanted to take pictures of it. I left him a note and he wrote me a letter to come out. I started following him around, he was very photogenic and very interesting person to talk to. Eventually I saw all of his work and what he was doing. It took me a couple of years before I realized we could show our work together. As soon as that happened it took off.

I took his work to Mac Murphy [the director of M2 Gallery in Little Rock]. West’s work is really dirty, with bugs and cat sh*t all over it. I took a pile of dirty artwork down there and Mac loved it. I wasn’t sure how anybody was going to take it. His work is really primitive and it’s really stylized. Mac decided to represent him. The dirtiest ones looked like an old map, and he’d frame them up ornately and beautiful. Those were the ones that sold first, which is surprising. You expect art to be pristine and perfect. Tim’s wasn’t like that. You had to meet the man to understand the work. It just makes sense.

TFW: What kind of stuff will be on display at the Fayetteville Underground?

Courtesy of Tim West
A lot of Tim West’s early work consisted of landscapes he imagined and put to paper.

HAUSAM: We’re showing some of his etchings, his landscapes. We’re also going to open up like a secret closet with his erotic art behind a curtain, just in case you’re with children. Some of it is borderline pornographic, like BDSM stuff. That’s his most interesting work to me, and we’ve never really shown it. We’ve shown the more tame ones. His work is so interesting. He does a lot of work with bondage, and I’m going to talk frankly. Strap ons, dildos, chains and belts. He always had a fascination with belts. We’re not sure what the deal is with that. You’ll see that a lot in his work. The women depicted in the erotic work are older women, which is different. Maybe it’s people he knew, I’m not sure, but like women in their 70s or 80s wearing belts, chains and strap ons. He didn’t sign a lot of his work, but if you look at it you can tell it’s Tim West.

TFW: What about his work and life fascinates you?

HAUSAM: He didn’t really take care of his work. He did a lot of work. While watching TV, during commercials he’d just start drawing. He would sometimes do 5 or 6 in one day. They aren’t real detailed, I guess you’d say. I found him drawing one piece and it took him 20 minutes. He was really fast. Some of his work he spent more time on. Mostly, they’re really quick sketches. He colors really well in his work. He would use pens, pencils and markers people would give him or things he could get at the convenience store, whatever he could get his hands on. He didn’t spend much money on his work. I don’t think he cared much.

He told me that he was in the woods not doing anything with his artwork because he was rejected years ago and it hurt his feelings and he went back to the woods. He lives pretty primitively. One electric outlet, one light bulb. No running water. He had a creek out there. He was able to get away with that for a long time. He was probably the most interesting person I’ve ever met.

He was a treasure. If you took a look at him and smelled him, you’d think no way did that man do that. It’s a contradiction, he was a skilled, educated artist, but you’d never think that meeting him. Some people would say he was insane. Some people may think that, but I don’t. I just think he was a different artist, an oddball. I wouldn’t say he was crazy, just strange. All artists are.