Friday, September 24, 2010

The Outsiders Festival is dead

The Outsiders Festival 2010

Many thanks to all artists that took part in the Outsiders Festival - Adelaide 2010 (in random order):

Barbara Cannon
Skye Bartlett
Miron Abramovici
Mark Roberts
Mike Greenwood
Mike Retter
Joanne Chua
Steve Oatway
Jungle Phillips
Julie Stephens
Bruce Miller
Leon Woods
Julia Sisi
Dan Casado
Claudio Braier
Elva Maude Turner Lindsay
Krystal Marks
Melanie Papertalk
Jamie Leffers
Craig Pinkie
Clifford Williams
Rowena Pinkie
Marley McHughes
Joseph Sansbury
N'Tarleah Cleaver
Kirk Wright
Ben Retter
Pearl Rodgers
Donovan Christie
Dana Nance
Tracy Hansell
Sunyata
George Pivas
Frédérique Albou
John Douglas
Jade Zivanovic
Destry Sparks
Space G

The third edition of the Outsiders Festival is planed for November 2011
Registrations now open.
www.outsiders-festival.com


Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The opening of the Outsiders Festival - Adelaide 2010


The Outsiders Festival is a celebration of
"works produced by people who for various reasons have not been culturally indocrinated or socially conditioned"...
"Working outside fine art "system" (schools, galleries, museums and so on), these people have produced, from the depths of their own personalities ... works of outstanding originality in concept, subject and techniques.
They are works which owe nothing to tradition or fashion."
Michel Thevoz, Curator of the Collection de l'Art Brut in Lausanne

The 2010 edition of the Outsiders Festival, hosted by the West Torrens Auditorium is a collection of 110 works of 21st Century Outsider Art from Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France, Canada, The United States and Argentina.
The 21st Century Outsider Art has been better described as Neo-Outsider Art by Dr. Melissa Westbrook:
"Neo-Outsiders have emerged from the same melting pot as Art Brut, Outsider, Visionary and Folk Artists. They are largely self-taught and their work exhibits many of the stylistic features of more traditional Outsiders. Like Jean Dubuffet, they are critical of the establishment and the pitfalls of the Insider commercial gallery system. This, however, is where the similarities between Neo-Outsiders and Outsiders end. Excluded by Outsider purists for incorporating cultural references in their work and utilising social media to communicate and exchange ideas/images, Neo-Outsiders find themselves isolated from their predecessors. Nor are they welcomed into the coveted world of Insider art as Neo-Outsider art does not readily comply with current aesthetics or conceptual theories.
Neo-Outsiders have a unique and individual voice because they:

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define themselves as Outsiders. Unlike traditional Outsider artists they are not “discovered” by a cultural elite and operate beyond the Insider/Outsider dichotomy.
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actively incorporate cultural, literary and philosophical discourse into their works.
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often bypass the traditional commercial gallery system by selling their own works and organising their own exhibitions online.
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seek to exchange ideas and thoughts with other artists all over the globe via social media. Neo-Outsiders believe that great art is not brought about through isolation but is a fusion of personal thoughts/images and external influence. They also recognise the difficulty of achieving complete isolation in today’s image-centric, postmodern world."
Dr Melissa Westbrook - Oxford - www.neo-outsiders.com

The festival closes - 26 September 2010