Why ‘outsider art’ is still on the outside – and what needs to change
Over the past decade, ‘outsider art’ has been nominated for the Turner Prize, it has been included in Royal Academy summer shows, there have been major exhibitions in UK gallery and museum spaces. Yet, despite this increased visibility, it remains far from fully accepted within the cultural mainstream in this country. My research asks a simple question: why?
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You may have seen a blog I posted back in March about an upcoming exhibition kdoutsiderart.com is organising in collaboration with Now and Again Gallery in Brighton, UK. I’d just like to extend a huge thank you to all of the artists who submitted work – the standard was incredibly high, and myself and Daniella Norton, the co-curator, thoroughly enjoyed browsing through the fantastic work. We have now narrowed down the exhibiting artists to 24, and are eagerly awaiting the arrival of their work at the Gallery.
The exhibition will include works created in a whole host of ways, in a wide range of media, including, but not limited to: paintings, drawings, sketchbooks, film, sound pieces and sculpture, and it will focus on the link between art and catharsis. We are currently in the process of putting together a booklet with written pieces by various artists and writers outlining their thoughts on the links and the importance of art in providing a cathartic release. With the show, ‘Miraculous Urgency,’ we hope to highlight introspective moments within artistic practice where, for whatever reason, a cathartic act has taken place during the making of the work. It will shine a light on the importance of creativity, and how, in many cases, process is equally as important as product.
We will be holding a preview event on Saturday 4th July, 6 – 9pm at the Gallery space: Now and Again Gallery, 17B Beaconsfield Villas, Brighton, BN1 6HA, and would love you to come along if you are in Brighton. The exhibition will continue on the 10th, 11th, 17th and 18th July, 1 – 5pm (or by appointment at other times).
You can find out more about the Gallery by clicking here.
If you would like more information on the exhibition, please get in touch by emailing: kdoutsiderart@yahoo.com.
Featured image: Luciana Rosado
(Featured Image: Carlo Keshishian, Over-Load)
It is an exciting month ahead at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester this October as we see the opening of three exhibitions focusing on the work of outsider artists, or those who face barriers to the mainstream art world. The triennial competition, Outside In: National, will showcase works by selected finalists who submitted their work the competition earlier this year. Accompanying this ground-breaking exhibition will be a chance to see the fascinatingly diverse work of Pat Douthwaite and (for the first time in the UK in almost 50 years!) a major review of the work of Jean Dubuffet: father of Art Brut.
Outside In: National
27th October 2012 – 3rd February 2013
‘A Ground-breaking open-entry exhibition for artists producing work from the edges of society. The exhibition will showcase 80 works by over 60 artists selected from pieces submitted to the Outside In: National competition over the past year. From substance misusers to self-taught visionaries, the exhibition will provide a unique insight into the extraordinary breadth and vitality of work produced by individuals from outside the mainstream art world.’
Pat Douthwaite: An Uncompromising Vision
23rd October 2012 – 3rd February 2013
Despite an introduction to painting by J. D. Fergusson, whose wife Douthwaite had studied mime and modern dance with, Douthwaite was for the most part a self-taught artist. Because of this, she is often associated with Outsider Art in spite of her regular exhibition schedule. She was controversially not interested in establishing a place within the cultural mainstream and was always comfortable being linked to the term Outsider Art; her early work was even influenced by pioneer of Art Brut, Jean Dubuffet. Douthwaite lived a predominantly disorderly lifestyle; a lifestyle that involved a lot of travel and a lack of a permanent base or studio from which to work. Douthwaite worked in a variety of media including collage and assemblage, making her work as colourful as her semi-nomadic life.
Learn more about Douthwaite’s life and work in the Pat Douthwaite ‘Step Up’ pack. Step Up is an innovative project that offers training for marginalised and outsider artists, enabling them to feel more confident delivering workshops and conducting in-depth research: www.pallant.org.uk/docs/stepupdouthwaitelowres_0.pdf
Jean Dubuffet: Transitions
20th October 2012 – 3rd February 2013
Transitions will be the first major review of Dubuffet’s work for almost 50 years in a UK institution. Organised with the assistance of the Fondation Dubuffet in Paris, the exhibition will feature key paintings, drawings and sculpture from collections across France and the UK.
Born in Le Havre in 1901, Dubuffet ran his father’s wine business for 17 years before returning to painting in his distinctively simple, primitive style. Dubuffet himself was fascinated by the work of children and the insane, eventually leading him to coin the term Art Brut in 1945, which translates as ‘Raw Art’. In 1949, Dubuffet produced a manifesto entitled Art Brut in Preference to the Cultural Arts, in which he intended to ‘valorise the idiosyncratic creative works of individuals which he considered to be outside “the system”,’ but to also ‘directly challenge and undermine the authority of “high culture” and conventional definitions of art.’ [Karen Jones et al., Framing Marginalised Art, 2010, p 11].
By emulating the ‘crude, violent’ energy of the work of children and the ‘clinically insane’, Dubuffet soon had the term he coined applied to his own work, ‘rather than to their stylistic source as he had intended.’ [http://www.dubuffet.com/bio.htm]
Shadows of a Dream, a collaborative exhibition between Creative Future and Outside In, opened last Sunday (16th September) at Outside In: Gallery located in Wellington House Day Centre, Brighton. The exhibition showcases works by Maria Kuipers, Mercedes Gil Simon, Michelle Roberts, Jessica Levine and Neal Pearce.
Jessica Levine’s work stems from sources including ‘personal travels, Kentish landscape, current affairs, childhood memories and textile designs.’ Jessica often explores ‘ideas using collage as… this is a useful process in realising finished pieces of work or in translating ideas using paint.’
Maria Kuipers’ work focuses on ‘self’, and is underpinned by her interest in the human condition and passion for meaningful art. She often uses mixed media and aims for ‘material presence as well as mysterious imagery.’ Maria is an artist led by materials, and by taking an intuitive approach, she reaches into her inner self and works from the unconscious. She hopes that by trusting the creative process, she can make an art that is ‘beyond what is seen into the unseen.’
Mercedes Gil Simon’s Black Paintings have evolved from photographs that she took as source material. They focus on night scenes of Brighton, or other cities which Mercedes has a connection to. The photographs are taken in the early hours of the morning to capture the unnerving calm of a city still sleeping. The works explore themes of Film Noir, and ‘convey an emotional and mysterious quality, creating highly evocative, atmospheric and subdued vistas.’
Michelle Roberts has drawn and painted throughout her life; as a young girl, she accompanied her grandfather, a watercolour painter who often worked outdoors. She spends much of her free time drawing and painting, with the evolution of her works often taking weeks. Michelle creates ‘colourful and complex worlds, each with a distant logic and meaning that connect to her own life.’ Michelle is supported by Project Art Works, based in Hastings, who ‘produce pioneering visual arts projects for individuals with profound intellectual disability and multiple impairments.’
Neal Pearce’s ‘The Infinite Codex’ was born in 1992, marking his departure from artistic and intellectual over-striving. Inspired by Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers trilogy, Neal was intrigued by the depiction of Earth as the ultimate super-computer. ‘Could it be that each of us is encoded with invaluable data just waiting to be tapped – information far beyond the reaches of our worldly, tutored minds?’
Shadows of a Dream is running until 21st Janurary 2013
Outside In: Gallery
Wellington House Day Options
Wellington Street
Brighton
BN2 3AX
Gallery opening times:
Tuesday and Friday 1.30pm – 3.30pm
Weekdays 9.30 – 3.30 (by appointment only)
For more information visit:
or
Flash of Splendour Artists @ Threadneedle Street, London
Ongoing
Flash of Splendour Artists is a “groundbreaking and highly acclaimed not-for-profit creative arts organisation working with music, poetry and the visual arts to effect societal change.”
The exhibition itself will focus on the work of 5 young British artists who are mentored by Flash of Splendour Arts.
The organisation itself specialises in “fostering creativity and self-determination in children and young adults, with a passionate interest in empowering those disempowered, for whatever reason, by their societal positioning.”
For more information please visit: www.flashofsplendour.com
// Tight Modern Submissions \\
50 works will be selected from submissions by marginalised or disabled artists to go on a touring exhibition across Sussex and London. The gallery is a minute replica of the Tate Modern, will dimensions of 8 ft x 5 ft with a 12 ft high chimney.
Images that are submitted should be original, photographs, collages or computer generated, measuring 18 x 13 cm or 13 x 13 cm. Each artwork entered will cost £5.
There are prizes of £250, £175 and £75.
DEADLINE: 4TH JUNE 2012
Once selections are made, the exhibition will take place at the following venues, on the following dates:
London: 13th – 17th June @ Royal Brompton Hospital
Brighton: 9th – 12th August @ East Street Bastion
London: 10th October @ Gillet Square, Hackney
Chichester: 9th – 11th November @ Pallant House Gallery
For more information please visit: www.wix.com/tightmodern/gallery
RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW @ CRE8 Centre, Hackney Wick
31st May – 7th June
“A group show focusing on the lives of ten Studio Upstairs artists…. Where the viewer is invited into the secret world of each artist.”
For more information please visit: www.studioupstairs.org.uk
Intertwined @ The Freedman Gallery at Albright College – Reading PA, USA
20th May – 1st July 2012
This exhibition “examines the artistic relationship of a mother and daughter, and a father and son, who have experienced extraordinary circumstances.”
For more information please visit: www.outsiderfolkart.com
Tridacna @ The Graeter Art Gallery
3rd May onwards
The artworks on display in this exhibition mirror the struggle of the Tridacna; a creature which when put in peril will vanish, leaving behind just a skeleton.
The exhibition includes pieces that represented “suspended dreams” and a “romantic merging of humanity, nature and animal.”
For more information please visit: www.graeterartgallery.com
Hollow Space and Outgrowth @ Bethlem Gallery
13th June – 13th July 2012
“Artists from Bethlem Gallery respond to the historical and art collection in the Archives and Museum.”
For more information please visit: www.bethlemheritage.co.uk
Outside In‘s National Exhibition will take place between the 27th October 2012 and 3rd February 2013 at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. Outside In work to provide a platform for artists who are marginalised from sociaty due to a number of reasons including mental health issues, social circumstances and disability. The deadline for applications for the exhibition is Friday 20th July 2012, and there is no submission fee for entering the competition. There will be six award winners who will receive a month long solo exhibition in the Studio at Pallant House.
Accompanying the Outside In: National will be other exhibitions based around the idea of ‘outsider’ art. Pallant House will be exhibiting the work of Jean Dubuffet, who originally coined the term Art Brut. He was a painter and sculptor as well as a collector of ‘outsider’ art in the early 20th century. As an artist, Dubuffet disregarded traditional ideals of beauty and instead focused on what he believed to be a more authentic and ‘raw’ approach to creating art. The exhibition at Pallant House will focus on the L’Horloupe series within Dubuffet’s collection.
Also accompanying Outside In: National will be an exhibition of Pat Douthwaite’s prints. Douthwaite is considered both a ‘self-taught’ and ‘outsider’ artist after starting her life as a dancer and aspiring actress. After giving up the stage to focus on her art, Douthwaite was encouraged not to attend art school by fellow Scottish artist J. D. Ferguson. Lacking a permanent base, Douthwaite worked from numerous cities and countries including England, Scotland, North Africa, India and South America, but eventually struggled with physical illness after an attack she suffered in Edinburgh. Douthwaite exhibited regularly within the art world, but her work and its unique style was not considered to fit into the artistic conventions of her day. She was uninterested in becoming caught up in the art world, instead being comfortable being linked to ‘outsider’ art.
Douthwaite’s early work was heavily influenced by the work of Dubuffet – something which connects the two exhibitions at Pallant House which are accompanying Outside In: National this coming Autumn/Winter.
This series of exhibitions is something not to be missed by those interested in the work of ‘outsider’ artists. For more information on the exhibitions, and to keep up to date when information is released about them, please visit Outside In‘s website.
Galerie Gugging, Austria
Until 28th Oct 2012
‘August Walla Retrospective’
Until 7th Oct 2012
‘Sexi-Blatt’
An exhibition based on the theme of sexuality
Mad Musee, Belgium
Until 6th May 2012
‘Rumours’
An exhibition that includes the work of Morton Bartlett, Lee Godie, Loulou and Miroslav Tichy
The Arts Festival of North Norway, Norway
24th June 2012
‘The World of Outsider Art’ at the Trondenes Historic Centre, Harstad Norway
The Aprad Szenes-Vieira da Silva, Lisbon Portugal
Until 23rd Sep 2012
‘Arte Bruta – Terra Incognita’
Outsider Art from the collections of Richard Troger and Antonio Saint-Silvestre
Portugese Association of Outsider Art, Lisbon Portugal
Until 31st May 2012
‘Xico Nico, Sculptor’
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Chicago
Until 30th June 2012
‘Heaven and Hell’
Bethlem Heritage, London
13th June 2012 – 13th July 2012
‘Hollow Space and Outgrowth’
“Artists from Bethlem Gallery respond to the historical and art collection in the Archives and Museum”
Art et Marges Musee, Belgium
10th Feb – 20th May 2012
‘La Fabuloserie: le fabuleux destin des Bourbonnais’
Frist Center for Visual Arts, Tennessee
24th Feb – 29th May 2012
‘Fairy Tales, Monsters and the Genetic Imagination’
KDOA 