The 'Cave' was the first contact with early man that we have of 'Art' made by early mankind. These Naive designs and 'frescoes' of the tomb, the festivals, ritual, rites of passage gave us the first definition of Art as 'stepping -out of their lives' to celebrate man's need to interpret his existence.
Naive Art:
-Doesn't mean it's simplistic - Doesn't mean it's primative - Could be design - Could mean sequential repetition - Could mean inter-tribal - Could mean emphasis on colour - Could mean explicit hierarchy of colour -Could be just Art of Ritual Could mean early 'expressionistic or surrealistic' - Could mean minimalism for a functional purpose - Could encompass the diverse or specific - Could mean the spiritual or religious - Could invoke stylization and the more representational - Could mean the relegation of social function for another - Could mean that ancient cave drawings are refering to even more ancient references - Could be exploited and not given the status and respect by Western individuals or societies. - Could be random - Could be controversial - Could be an unpopular reference - Could reflect threat or danger - Could be drawn by a variety of implements - Could have been used with music or vice versa - Could be about transformation or about death of an assumed idea etc
Conclusion Naive Art seems to be a facilitator that transcends and changes perceptions, breaking barriers and mediums so much so that it seems odd that we limit it today to 'Child Art' or sophistry that exploits ancient antiquities. Each western generation in the last 2 enturies has offered Naive Art as an escape from domestic troubles, and it seems to have exported a western ethos for post-imperial guilt or anger. Perhaps Naive Art gives us a future more than it can explain the past? Perhaps Naive Art has been scarred by it being a political football? Or so beyond the representational that its leaning to the abstract is either more camorflage than authentic Art or a development that is not defined by western traditions at all. Step out and away from such traditions and I think you will find freedom from and freedom to do something - that is my identification with naive but unsettling work, because it is difficult to departmentalize because it can be experienced in so many formulistic ways and 'painted' or expressd in so many mediums that it can only be a facilitator beyond definition.