I liked your very generous conclusion to the post...although, similarly, I'm uncomfortable with the obscuring of how some outsider art is made under very distinct, hostile conditions. Then again, maybe there's something very wrong with wanting to buy the story along with the art. Like you said, so much outsider art sparks joy and that is undeniable. And the alternative of outsider art just being lumped together in one big category is worse. To this day I've only ever seen one dedicated show (Madge Gill, at the William Morris Gallery).
Maybe, in however many years time, there will be an exhibition like the one at Whitechapel which pairs folk-art-inspired art by art school-educated artists and entirely self-taught artists, so we can see the similarities!
I was preparing to watch the documentary yesterday but it's not available anywhere.
I was even trying to lend it from Amazon (yikes) but seems they are not streaming it unless you live in US...
This made me think about the current state of things...
Is this how culture and art is now? They make it very hard for people to find things that matter.
I could go and watch some brainless 'one-time-use' -entertainment for free 24/7, and learn nothing just to make big tech and mainstream media satisfied...
Yes to the (Eat, Pray, Love) research trip. If only we could be honest about this in grant applications
What a fascinating post! Thank you. Not sure if this is relevant, but this really overturned the binary for me, back in 2006 (aargh): https://artmap.com/whitechapel/exhibition/inner-worlds-outside-2006.
Thank you - & I remember reading about this show! I wish I had been able to see it.
I liked your very generous conclusion to the post...although, similarly, I'm uncomfortable with the obscuring of how some outsider art is made under very distinct, hostile conditions. Then again, maybe there's something very wrong with wanting to buy the story along with the art. Like you said, so much outsider art sparks joy and that is undeniable. And the alternative of outsider art just being lumped together in one big category is worse. To this day I've only ever seen one dedicated show (Madge Gill, at the William Morris Gallery).
Maybe, in however many years time, there will be an exhibition like the one at Whitechapel which pairs folk-art-inspired art by art school-educated artists and entirely self-taught artists, so we can see the similarities!
This was fascinating and I need to read through again. But before that I totally need to find out more about Bill Traylor!
Thank you for reading! Love spreading the word about Bill Traylor β the documentary is pretty good, but so are the books full of his work: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/between-worlds-the-art-of-bill-traylor_leslie-umberger/20027737/
I was preparing to watch the documentary yesterday but it's not available anywhere.
I was even trying to lend it from Amazon (yikes) but seems they are not streaming it unless you live in US...
This made me think about the current state of things...
Is this how culture and art is now? They make it very hard for people to find things that matter.
I could go and watch some brainless 'one-time-use' -entertainment for free 24/7, and learn nothing just to make big tech and mainstream media satisfied...
Well, I'm not giving up. I'll find the books!
Thanks! I seriously need to check out the books too!
Great article!
https://substack.com/@clementpaulus/note/c-99581109?r=5c1ys6&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action