Moving right along, I asked Rosch what the deal is with this seemingly impenetrable abstract or naive realism, bordering on visionary-- or whatever you want to call it-- that so many artists seem to be making these days. At a glance, the art makes almost no sense other than aesthetically, and pretty much defies explanation no matter how long you look at it. Rosch proposed a "collective consciousness" theory, suggesting that perhaps the current state of global wierdness is perpetrating this shared metacognitive form of expression, at which point he introduced me to one of the artists who makes this art, Joseph Hart. Hart told me that his art is directly connected to personal writings, and based on an imaginary reality, populated with imaginary characters, all of his own creation. So I think I might be getting somewhere.

Artist/Artists: Ryan Wallace, Mat O'Brien, Joseph Hart, Chris Duncan, Derrick Snodgrass, Paul Urich.