Outsider art and my involvement in the movement (a three page read) I. What is Outsider art?  The simple definition is, Outsider Art is art made outside of academic circles.   Art Brut (Raw Art) is the name given to the movement originally in the 1940’s by the French Artist Jean DuBuffet, although the first noted time fine artists recognise it’s significance was much ealier, in 1912 with the Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group.  Later, between 1921 and 1922 there were two books that spread the importance of what would be the foundation of Art Brut to a wider audience.  Both books dealt with art made by mentally ill patients. During the Post Impressionist period (1886-1905), and from the examples given to artists from the Theatre of the Absurd (particularly the play "Ubu Roi") there was a need to find a new way to express one's self, what Duchamp would call "anti-art" to liberate the arts.  One source of inspiration was in art that did not come from artists with academic or fine art pretences, a type of art that was created far from the traditional world of art.  This far sighted vision sought to incorporate the work of so called primitives and naive artists into the work of serious artists, much in the same way Japanese Prints helped inspired Impressionism and Post Impressionism.   “Those works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses – where the worries of competition, acclaim and social promotion do not interfere – are, because of these very facts, more precious than the productions of professionals.”  Wrote DuBuffet In 1972 and English author transposed the movement’s name from Art Brut to Outsider Art, perhaps to soften the original name.  For a long time the two names meant the same art movement, but after a certain point there was a divergence in particulars about the two names and might connote two branches of the movement (depending upon who one asks). To quote Raw Vision (the largest magazine about the Outsider Art Movement). “The controversy surrounding the exact definition of Outsider Art and allied fields has been going on ever since awareness of the phenomenon began…” Outsider art is perhaps one of the most argued art movement, especially since it entered mainstream popularity.  I hesitate to weigh in on any of the controversy because it is more of a distraction, moving the topic away from my own participation in the movement. ​ II. My involvement with Outsider art movement began somewhere after the mid 1990’s when a famous poet told me she bought one of my paintings, that she collected folk art.  The words "folk art" threw me since I never associated my art with folk art.  When she saw the confusion on my face she mentioned that she meant "Outsider Art."  Still confused, she quickly replied, "Art Brut," an art movement that I had studied under my mentor and felt it held particular ideas that resonated with my own. I felt "Art Brut" was an attempt to reclaimed the act of creation for all humans irregardless of their skills, art education, and participation in the world of so called "fine arts." Art belonged to all humans and not to those with specific pretenses, such as a degree from an art school or having some family pedigree or particular genius. That whatever creative effort a human undertook, good or bad, was an expression, a communication. That it could and should be defined as art. The Poet continued to describe Outsider art as the punk rock of art, the rebels, or as the only genre really saying anything anymore. I was sold, she must be right about where I fit in as an artist, I must be an Outsider artist!  I went out and bought a book on Outsider art, and discovered that I resonated with very little of the art in the book. This caused a pause in my mind, making me wonder if I resonated enough with the movement to call myself an Outsider Artist. I decided to go with it, not fully sure. I did view the work I had brought to New York City from New Mexico (my first body of work began at age 17) as being naive, unrefined and lacking any real direction, other than it was a means to experiment and learn the craft. But I didn't see it as some positive. Instead it was these same attributes that was forcing me to rethink my next body of work, began in 1997 for the largest show I would have yet in the city. My early work did sell, which actually beguiled me. Yet in hindsight I can see how apt it was to call the work I brought to NYC "Outsider art" and why it sold. Outsider Art thrives on a naive like vision.  Even thirty years later the only remaining piece of art I have from that time period hangs on my wall and quickly drew the attention of the photographer from Raw Vision magazine when he visited my studio.   Months after this conversation with the poet, I was getting prepared for another show in NYC. I often passed out postcards of my work to people walking around the art districts on 57th street and in Soho.  Chelsea didn’t exist as an art district back then.  I made it a habit of handing out my postcards to the galleries since you never know, maybe the work would strike a gallery enough to give me a show.  Trying on my new association with Outsider art when asked what sort of art I am doing, I found myself faced with a very negative reaction from one of the gallery representatives towards Outsider art.  I got an impression that perhaps the hostility was more about what the movement stands for, as it is often seen as anti-academic which can threaten traditional ideas that an artist belongs to an exclusive club. I have pondered this moment over the years just because it is rare for art to provoke an extreme reaction.  The outcome made me think that perhaps I was somehow insulting and isolating those in the industry of selling art, which isn't what I wanted to do. When it came time for the show I had passed out postcards for there was no mention of me being an Outsider artist.  Nor was there any mention of me being an Outsider artist for another four or five years afterwards.   In either 2002 or 2003 the mother of a very famous Outsider Artist named Jonathan Lerman began to champion my work.  She turned the larger Outsider art movement onto my work.  This led to a world of selling art, of being used as a gallery’s advertisement in Raw Vision Magazine, and I began to get shows.  It was also an introduction to others in the business.  I even got to talk to Henry Boxer, a well known art dealer in the UK with great taste.  Most of the people who came through my door pressured me to sell my unfinished pieces as they were, he was the only one to recognise and respect that I am still working on the pieces and asked me to speak to him when the work was done.   I never did. Another well known art dealer from D.C. traveled the 300 hundred miles to my studio to see my work, it happened to be the art dealer who represented a number of the artists from the book about Outsider Art I had bought in NYC, and those artists I had resonated with, the "Self Taught" artists. With his pending visit I put in the extra work to finish a good number of paintings. It paid off, he took 30 pieces with him.  This would begin a 17 year journey with Grey Carter that was often fruitful in terms of sales and exposure to my work.  Hundreds of thousands of people saw my work.  And often times he would sell 90-80% of my work he showed for a period of time (the market crash of 2008 put a huge dent in art sales, although I was surprised that I still sold paintings, and the recovery was slow).  He would facilitate shows in museums and include me in shows across the USA.  I have no idea how many shows I have had or where they were located.   III. Outsider art is not like many art movements throughout history, like Surrealism, where all the artists subscribe to a specific aesthetic, or where there is a goal to create art in the spirit of this aesthetic.  Outsider art is well known for the diversity of aesthetics. This has changed over time to where there seems to be a trend in mastering an "Outsider look." The movement is saturated with artists who seem to be parodying the work of ealier visonaries instead of defining aesthetics on their own terms by seeking their own unique voice within the movement. Going back to Dubuffet’s words, “Those works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses – where the worries of competition, acclaim and social promotion do not interfere – are, because of these very facts, more precious than the productions of professionals.” Movements change as new generations of artist discover and translate what they see into new art. It is my hope we do not see the end of aesthetic diversity in the movement. Historically there was never a singular vision but rather a host of diverse voices and vision that created the cannons of the movement. ​ IV. There is something to be said of an art movement that is still being debated, still analysed over 100 years since its recognition.  It is a movement that inspired and enabled many of the artist in the Post Impressionist years and beyond to discover what anti-art could look like and in what spirit it is created.  There is a long list of masterful works and artists of the last 100 years or more who have taken directions from Outsider artists, including myself, who simply expressed themselves without any concern with other people’s tastes, trends, or prospects of a retail value. If allowed, Outsider art is a foundation, a means to explore the freedom of being a creative human. It is a tool to use, not a specific aesthetic. ​ What is considered amongst the first modernist art movements, Impressionism and Symbolism, expressed something completely different than before.  With the fairly recent invention of the camera (1840-1880's), artists were no longer concerned with preserving history and telling someone else's stories, a new reality opened up.  Instead of painting a record of what we see with our eyes, artists began to record what they saw without eyes.  To make the emphasis on how our intellect, imagination and emotion viewed our world.     ​ Outsider Art has the potential to be equally revolutionary to the artists. As mentioned, it has inspired generations of artists for over 100 years, it helped form the visions of many of the Modernist artists and gave an answer for the quest for anti-art: That anti art is not an aesthetic, but rather an approach to creation. For me, it freed me from the thought process of making art and replaced it with an intuitive process that is built on being human. Outsider Art has been a democratising force in the art world by extending the invitation to be creative and taking it seriously. It also provides art lovers the world wide an alternative to the work shown in contemporary art galleries that can often be distant, impersonal, confusing, or staid.   Thank you for reading,  svp