Outsider Art | Central Library Arts Division. Rochester, New York

Art Brut, Raw Art, The Outsiders, The Visionaries

Howard Finster – “Black Cat Of Desert Storm, #18086

This post took me a very long time to research and write but I love researching about art that isn’t in the mainstream. By the time I finally go and write the posts I’ve learned so much and then I pass that information into you. Enjoy reading.

You hear the word Art Brut, what sorts of images does that word bring you your mind? For most it is raw or rough images come to mind and that’s it, raw art or art created outside the boundaries, hence the name, Outsider Art. Art Brut, translated from French means “raw art”; ‘Raw’ in that it has not been through the cooking process, those works uncooked by cultural and artistic influences. Art Brut, Outsider art or any of the terms used above aren’t limited to just painting. The artists that work within this genre may work in many mediums, drawing, painting, sculpture, fabric, some may create dolls or toys and soil whereby they create large visionary gardens, and others express themselves in writings laid out in a primitive format.

You can read the entire post here and find books in the Arts Division about Art Brut and the Outsiders. You can read more posts I’ve written about art outside the mainstream here.

” Raw Vision was first published in 1989 with the express purpose of bringing the phenomena of Outsider Art to a wide public. The first edition of Raw Vision presented works known to just a handful of people around the world. Raw Vision has since continued to feature new discoveries of Outsider artists and unknown places such as sculpture gardens and extraordinary self-made buildings.

Raw Vision remains the world’s only international journal of the art of the ‘unknown geniuses’ who are the creators of Outsider Art. Untrained, unschooled and uninfluenced by the art world, the work of these artists continues to stun and amaze. They invent their own forms, techniques and create private worlds. Only in the pages of Raw Vision can readers discover for themselves the world of Outsider Art.

This high quality quarterly publication takes a fully international view of events and presents all the latest news of exhibitions and publications in this fascinating field. It features artists from every continent and its news pages cover many different countries around the globe.

Raw Vision can give art lovers a unique insight into the power of ‘raw’ creativity which contrasts completely with the prosaic world of conceptual and institutional contemporary art so prevalent in our museums and galleries today. It is not for nothing that Outsider Art has been termed ‘the hidden face of contemporary art’, like the hidden face of the moon.

Come take a look and get acquainted with the world of the self-taught artist.

The Spring/summer 2012 issue includes these artists:

Raw Vision #75
Spring/Summer 2012