Jurate Macnoriute
Stylistic Characteristics of Criminal Art MovementContemporary art, music, literature, cinema and viewers are influenced by criminals noticeably. It is difficult to accept as true that nightmare Harry Potter is written by nice married woman bringing up the kids, but not by a serial killer. Broadcast and telecast of criminality are most popular. Criminality is romanticized and has relish among young folk.
Criminal individuals' influence is noticed on art movements of the 20th century like surrealism, expressionism, Metaphysical art, Art brut, neo fauvism, hyperrealism, La Trans-avanguardia italiana, art of homosexuals, La Coopérative of Malassis, Situationism, Graffiti, Funk art, Pop art, 3D art, etc.
In 1876 after examination of 7,000 criminals, the father of scientific criminology, Cesare Lombroso (1836 - 1909) wrote about inborn criminality in his capital work, L’Uomo delinquente or The Criminal Man. He linked psychology to skull configuration, and held biology, not culture, responsible for criminal acts. Lombroso rose theory of criminals' atavism, he believed that criminals have features of primitive ancestors Neanderthal men.
I have no such possibilities like Lombroso who investigated so many criminals, but from some my own observations I have an opinion that criminality may be added to category of specific mental illness, as a kind of dangerous inborn insanity. After all no one sane individual never behaves against law and conscience.
Furthermore it is determined that criminals aside their natural dishonesty, sleaze and sadism have symptoms of traditional mental disorders like paranoia, schizophrenia, mania and others. Large part of criminals are drug addicts and alcoholics.
Criminal art as an art movement appeared together with rising of art therapy not only in mental hospitals, but also in prisons. Internet gave accessibility to prisoners' creations like pornography and other dirties world wide.
Let us review specific features of criminal art striking the eye first of all:
- lines long hard sharp like knifes;
- contrasted values;
- openness of space; criminals like central perspective and thrust into it not only buildings and streets, but frequently waters and sky too;
- centrifugal extravert dynamics like explosion (when mentally ill artists rise glance upwards, mentally healthy to center);
- objects linger in open space
- disharmony;
- fragmentation;
- frequently crowding;
- intricacy;
- accidental soils like spatters or dirty water's residues shading;
- colors' combinations -- black, deep blue, deep purple, white, sometimes gold yellow; black and blue colors associates with night's sky, purple with blood, white in little quantities with night lights, yellow with gold -- a lot of crimes are done for money that is gold;
- brutality, aggressiveness, horror, obscenity, indulgence in affliction, anti humanity, jeering; especially homicides find enjoyable to depict anatomic human figures free of skin, distorted, mauled faces, open mouths with sharp teeth, the Reaper, dry death and torment, naked drastic women among sharp grass, catastrophic sights, also sharp naturalistic landscapes with shifting violet sky and waters, designed with intention to sell. Some similarity is between mood of criminals' art and photography of accidents.
Criminals' artistic attitude is close to Mannerism, surrealism, art of homosexuals, funk art, horror films. Criminals themselves appreciate Gothic art.
In most soft form some features of criminals (centrifugal dynamics, central perspective, open space, intricacy, etc.) are noticed in pictures of Jacopo Tintoretto, Italian painter of the Venetian school (1518-1594). Tintoretto was known by his unscrupulousness and aspiration to undercut his competitors.
Tintoreto, The Stealing of the Dead Body of St Mark, 1562-66
We have information that the most talented Italian painter, the greatest master of composition, Caravaggio also soiled himself by sin of murder. But in his painting we do not notice signs of centrifugal extravert dynamics and some other features of typical criminals art. We may think that life and creative work of Caravaggio were some kind repentance for his past negative action what find expression in his pictures. Keen sorrow pierces through all his painting.
Caravaggio, St Francis, 1606. Pinacoteca, Cremona. Oil on canvas 130 x 90 cm.
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Hence in this part criminals' art is specified from mentally ill and mentally health people, by centrifugal extravert dynamics, long sharp lines, sadistic plots, characteristic colors: black, deep blue, purple, white, yellow, objects linger in open space. If madmen's horror passive, criminals active and directed to outside. We may name criminality as anti-mental illness.
