SIGHTS AROUND TOWN : Inner Art Gets Out : Exhibit at Camarillo is strong in its own visual terms. It gains even added strength as viewer gains awareness of who the artists are.

A deep blue perimeter frames the image that Gerimay has called “Birth of a Good Mood.” In the midst of this blue womb is a burst of red and brown pastel, vigorously ground into the paper to create a rough surface in contrast with the slick acrylic. The suggestion of a face surfaces.

For art aficionados, the work might recall Jean Dubuffet’s “art brut” pieces, with their bold primitive figures and extra-tactile surfaces. For the artist, who suffers from wild mood swings, the work represents just what the title implies.

Experiencing the 700-odd works that make up this year’s art show at the Camarillo State Hospital can be an inspiring experience, but one bound to stir up mixed emotions.

This art, made by Camarillo patients and also various mental health patients and employees, is sometimes strong in its own visual terms, but the awareness of the unusual circumstances of the artists’ lives always enters into the process of art appreciation.

Part of what makes much of this art powerful is the earnest articulation of ideas and sensations by artists alienated from society’s mainstream.

They are outsiders, at least temporarily, and that special vantage point can sometimes enhance the artistic results.

From a psychological perspective, the show celebrates creative expression as a form of therapy, catharsis and self-examination. From an aesthetic perspective, the show revels in pure, unfettered self-expression of a sort that many artists might envy.

The show also reveals many references to art history, whether accidentally or not. Many of the works employ the drip painting tactics of Jackson Pollock. Randy’s “Face” (the artists are identified by first names only) has the elongated droop of Picasso’s rose period.

At times, it’s hard not to read into these works the special mental states of their creators. John’s “Stairway to Psychosus” is a carefully created spiral, radiating outward or inward, as the case may be. Ron V.’s “Inner Space” is an iridescent blob suggesting a rainbow-colored Rohrshach blot.

And then, tucked in a corner, there is David’s dark and muted “My Volcano,” an image based on a turbulent conical form of potential symbolic resonance.

Jack Cheyney has headed up the art therapeutic program at Camarillo since 1987, and the annual art show on the grounds is a valuable opportunity for public interface, on more than one count.

Throughout the year, art from the program finds its way into the public sphere, at the county fair or, for instance, a recent special exhibition at the Ventura County National Bank, Camarillo Branch.

For the artists themselves, the exhibition is a forum to display--and to sell--their works. The artists get to brush up against the extra-artistic aspects, such as sales and publicity, of the business of art exhibition.

Last Sunday, Mike M. grabbed hold of this reporter and led a quick tour of his numerous felt-pen drawings, populated with barns, circuses and other innocent vignettes of Americana. As much as Mike wanted to share his art, he also was excited by the red dots that denoted which pieces had sold. “Pretty soon,” he said, grinning, “I’m going to be moneybags McCoy.”

Danny also showed his art, consisting mostly of large pastels. Curious, he wanted to see what was being scribbled in the reporter’s note pad.

“I’m going to be in the L. A. Times,” he exclaimed to Cheyney as he walked up. “You deserve it,” said Cheyney.

Noah was a newcomer last year. He showed a marvelous rough-hewn, vaguely animalistic image entitled “Playgirl.” This year, he has several pieces, including “Duck Playing the Drums,” “Nirvana,” and “The Duck.” In the latter piece, an enigmatic black shape sits in a pool of seething yellow, as if the figure and ground have been reversed.

Alan also deals well with boldly drawn, archetypal figures, images of Buffalo Bill and “Space Cats.” Cartoon characters--Mickey Mouse, Garfield, Snoopy--tend to crop up in the art, as familiar points of graphic reference.

Hospital employee Henry Taylor, who is going to CalArts next year, shows figurative depictions of life at the hospital, including a large portrait of patients milling in the ward, and another portrait of a distraught, open-mouthed man in mid-howl.

Cheyney has a special concern for young people who enter the hospital from behind the embattled lines of the inner city. Faced with a combative social environment on the street and often abusive domestic situations at home, these children have exhibited the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

In an recent article written for a compendium of writing by art therapists, Cheyney concludes, “He who ignores these problems is complicit in every act of destruction by which the problem is gauged.

If there is anything that my work in the institution and the community has taught me, it is that the fates of us all are inexorably intertwined.”

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Creative Discoveries: Artwork of the Mental Health and Developmental Communities” show and sale at Camarillo State Hospital, 1878 Lewis Road, through Sunday. For more information call 484-3661, ext. 4385.