Intuitive Art as a Canon

This paper examines the Intuitives concept and the controversies that have surrounded this artistic genre in Jamaica. It argues that Intuitive art, as it has been defined by the National Gallery of Jamaica, constitutes a specialized canon within the national canons, rather than an alternative to Primitive or Naïve. While its reliance on notions of purity and autonomy are unwittingly Primitivist, the concept has given legitimacy to the artists and allowed them to produce work that would otherwise never have existed.