When I think about these words by Jeanette Winterson, I can't help but think of the work of the outsider artist. The term ‘outsider art’ was coined in 1972 as an English equivalent of the French term ‘art brut’, which literally translated means raw art. It basically refers to unrestrained artwork created by self-taught, fringe dwellers such as folk artists, the mentally ill, the incarcerated, the recluse and the eccentric. In other words, artwork created by those unbound by the cultural norm. Because such artists are removed from cultural and academic standards, it is believed that a purely creative impulse motivates and drives their work. Canonized artists seeking a new, raw form of expression beyond the academicism of western tradition like Picasso, Klee, Matisse, Miro & Dubuffet developed a keen interest in this impulsive form of art making. They collected the work of outsider artists & used their imagery as a source of inspiration for their own art. Check out the relationship below between ‘Totem’ by outsider artist Gaston Chaissac (left) & ‘Figure’ by Pablo Picasso (right).

Contemporary artists such as TWFA's Chris Retsina still draw inspiration from outsider art - See below 'Ghon Fucci #3' by Chris Retsina. There is a raw quality to this type of work that is engaging and confronting on a primal level. In these cases, what may appear clumsy or untrained is actually a deliberate neglect of academic technique and a disregard for the norm or the expected, a pursuit of creative freedom. The practice of the outsider artist is essentially rebellious and pure, with an innocence that is very compelling if you rid yourself of expectation and see beauty in aesthetic relationships beyond the cultural norm. Let's be honest, we all strive to be different, free, and Outsider Art is an uncontrived realization of this ambition.  

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