What does "brutalist" mean?  

See definition below for
"Brutalist" architecture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture

Which is sort of interchangable with "Art Brut", I guess
Art Brut:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_Art

Brutalism
Is not the same as Art Brut or Outsider Art.
I do believe the most notable brutalist was none other than Gianni Sanchetti di Brutta.

Aside from Sir Fruitiness
This is what I'm talking about. Why is this called "trademark Brutal"?
http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=226922

"Brutalist", in this context
means that it's intentionally rough and unfinished looking.

Desireability?
Is this style desirable to modernists? When I originally thought it referred to "hand-hammered" or "in-the-rough" metal, I thought it was referring to that unique period of transition right before the advent of the industrial age or machine age at the end of the 30's, beginning of the 40's where the materials used were still metal, heavy, steel, iron, etc. yet the difference was manmade vs. machinemade. From what y'all are telling me, brutalist (in the context of the designer Paul Evans) is much later, possibly as late as the 70's yet still reflecting a manmade quality inserted into the height of the modern factory-made era.
Does that make any sense? It's like brutalist is trying to be bauhaus, only decades later. Would it then be "neobauhaus"?

Louise Nevelson sculptures
would fit into this genre, as would the set design of the 1968 Planet of the Apes.
Is it desirable? That's for you to decide. I myself wouldn't mind owning a Nevelson sculpture, or two.

I would not call the works above brutalist...
I would coin the term abstract gothic for them.
Brutalism in architecture is defined by About.com: Architecture as:
"The term Brutalism was first used in the early 1950s to describe the simple concrete buildings designed by Le Corbusier. Stark and angular, Brutalism grew out of the International Style, but the designs may strike you as less refined. Brutalist buildings can be constructed quickly and economically.
Brutalist architecture has these features:
* Precast concrete slabs
* Rough, unfinished surfaces
* Exposed steel beams
* Massive, sculptural shapes
The Prizker Prize-winning architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha is often called a "Brazilian Brutalist" because his buildings are constructed of prefabricated and mass-produced concrete components. Shown here is his home in São Paulo, Brazil."
Note the stair case by Mendes de Rocha and the Carpenter Center by Corbusier.

the
da Rocha house is cast-in-place concrete; an example of assembled precast elements would be the Kallman and McKinnell Boston City Hall shown on the Wiki Brutalism page.

Curtis Jere and his look-a-like competetor's
wall and table sculpture are often lumped into being called "brutalist', because of the sharp edges.
I suppose lots of modern metal sculpture can be called that, although i don't know how appropriate it is.

and this
see below

Here
in the UK, the term 'Brutalist' is often applied to Basil Spence (one of my favourite architects)
http://www.basilspence.org.uk/