Reviewed by
T.D. Lord
And is Copywritten to
Das Romanie Booksellers 1999.
Please ask permission from the author  to reproduce.


Last Edit/Update
03 January, 2000

The Art of  "Little Annie"

The "Urban Saints" Collection

     Chanteuse Little Annie Bandez, a.k.a. Annie Anxiety, is certainly not a newcomer to the musical underground nor to the world of experimental art. Her most recent series of work, appropriately titled Urban Saints, provides us with a colorful and enchanting glimpse into the fringe world of the avant-garde.

     The dozen or so images in this exhibition are best defined as work from the school of "Outsider" art. While certainly ambiguous the term is meant to imply work from a person or persons outside of the mainstream or conventional art world. The term is reserved for artists with a vision that is unique and whose imagery is drawn from an emotional response to signs and symbols peculiar to that artist's experience. Traditional rendering is of secondary importance to visual and emotional impact.

     Little Annie sees the world as an eclectic relativism. She views truth as subjective and expresses this belief within each part of her visual work. Her strong figures, while decidedly feminine, are clad in robes and veils that project a dreamy and foreign transgender feel. The contrast between these "Urban Saints" in their beautiful clothes and the ominous symbols of threat and despair create a sense of the melancholy. A palpable warm summer breeze replete with exotic incense serves only briefly to protect one from the stench of back alleys and big city smells. The unnamed figures seem somehow familiar and almost sacred. We sense an eminent threat as though a preordained event lies just outside of our understanding.

     It is notable that the backgrounds almost always encompass elements of the New York skyline. Annie states that for her the city of New York is a symbol of safety. It is home. It is the familiar. She perceives refuge within the grayness of symbolic anonymity. The noise and hubbub of the city are removed from the viewer's experience. All is beautiful and serene within the special grottos of the Urban Saints. Meaning is defined by the familiar and the mundane.

     The medium that the artist chooses to use is a combination of watercolor, acrylic and any other water based material at hand. She has chosen to use a twelve inch square format because her work is often used for album and CD covers. The use of bright colors is in homage to other folk artists of the past. One notices a decided parallel between her color and imagery with the noted southwest artist De Grazia who, while his vision is different, makes use of saintly thematic material and bright color. Like De Grazia Little Annie explores the relationship between common man and a higher destiny. Unlike De Grazia Annie's work is filled with human passion and a touch of mythos.

     Her work is well represented in collections of note as well as those of her very loyal followers. They are priced at an affordable $350 to $400 unless used as an album cover in which case interested parties should inquire as to price. Little Annie is almost certainly destined to take her place among classic American primitive artists. This reviewer will certainly keep a watchful eye.

Visit More of Little Annie's Art at The Sentrax Corporation