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Tim Pewe
How "outside" do you have to be these days to make Outsider Art?
That will be one of several questions addressed by Mike Kelly and others when Unfiltered VI, an exhibit devoted to this particular genre, opens for business at Mr. K's Funhouse Gallery inside the Russell Industrial Center on August 20.
First, a little background info. Outsider Art stems from Art Brut, a term first coined by French artist Jean Dubuffet. He used it to describe works created "outside" the mainstream by individuals who lacked or eschewed formal academic study. Indeed, the first examples Dubuffet referenced were pieces created by mental patients!
Other artists and critics (especially in Britain) added a few more adjectives to the picture; primitive, naive, anarchistic, and a host of others. The common denominator, however, was still the popular image of a resolutely independent individual going his or her own way.
But now? Even if the established "rules" about art were less in flux than they are today, artists themselves no longer have to worry too much about following them. Nor must they feel beholden to established galleries. Social media has created scores of "communities" where artists like the ones who will be exhibiting at the Russell are permitted to define collective goals and create a common vision of what art should be and where it should go. Ironically, that has made them a more cohesive force in the art world and has engendered a greater degree of critical attention and acceptance. Rather dilutes the notion of being "outside", doesn't it?
It's a debatable point - but art that prompts the mind to debate anything these days is the most worthwhile art of all. See you at the Funhouse. -- Robert del Valle
