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OUTSIDER ART FESTIVAL ROAR! gallery was New Zealand’s first gallery to promote Outsider Art. In the four years since ROAR! took this step we have been privileged to connect with many exciting artists, twenty of whom are represented in ROAR! gallery’s Outsider Art Festival, celebrating all that is wonderful about Outsider Art. We have selected artists who represent the diversity which is inherent in a category covering many materials and forms of personal and creative expression. The work ranges from the minutely detailed to the colourfully loose and flamboyant.
Historically Outsider Art emerged as the movement Art Brut (Raw Art) in 1949 and initially focussed on art from psychiatric patients. Today it fits in a large grouping of art also referred to as Visionary, Naïve, Folk and self taught art. Some writing on Outsider Art instils the notion that ‘Outsider’ makes reference to the status of the maker as existing ‘outside society’ or ‘on the margins’. ROAR! gallery is interested in ensuring the label of Outsider Art is empowering for artists. Outsider Art in this context is about artists working outside the fine art ‘system’, creating art of outstanding originality in concept, subject and technique. We identify this work as the personal expression and exploration of a very individual view of the world. Rather than being influenced by popular culture or tradition, these makers create their own logic and visual language within a dedicated practice. The purpose of the work can be as varied as the form it takes; it may be to create a better world, reinterpret life events, bring order to their environment or to express abiding passions and opinions. The driving force is predominately not for commercial reasons nor to gain a place in the art world. Outsider artists make work for themselves and for their own reasons.
For eleven years New York has hosted an Outsider Art Fair; Spain hosts an Outsider Art Fair and there are dedicated galleries and museums for Outsider Art in England, Switzerland, Spain, France, Holland, Germany, Austria and America. New Zealand artists like Martin Thompson, Amy Szostak and Val Sutherland are keenly collected overseas, but are only slowly gaining credibility here. New Zealand galleries are starting to take notice of the art in this vibrant category, but our artists often gain their recognition outside of New Zealand.
In this show we present work from artists who have found success, to those who are yet to be discovered. They sit together as artists at different stages of their career, but all of whom present an inspiring example of original thinking and dedication to exploring their own creativity.
And what’s your role in this? The other important ingredient in Outsider Art is the people who love it; who are bold, original and creative in their taste. Know what you love … love what you see ,,, live a creative life by gathering those things around you. Who knows what’s out there being created. Look out for what is original, exciting and catches your eye; your eye is good. And who knows, you may find an artist waiting to be discovered.
Sian Torrington and Fiona Elwood ROAR! gallery, February 2008
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Daniel Phillips |
Charles Cunningham |
Ray Ritchie |
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Margaret Ritchie | ||
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EXHIBITION ARCHIVES | ||
