The troublesome category of
"outsider art" provokes the question "outside of
what?"  The label has been applied
mostly to those creating art who have paid no attention to the history of art
and who have made no attempt to make their work commercial.  It is often applied to folk artists,
eccentrics who paint or draw on their own, or people who have been
institutionalized and who were initially prompted to be creative simply because
the process had some therapeutic effect. 
Vernacular Visionaries stretches the concept further, bringing
together the work of eight artists from around the world.  This makes clearer that when we refer to the
"history of art" we are often presupposing it is the history of Western
art, so once one considers artists from other cultures, where commercialism is
often less dominant, it seems to follow that nearly every non-Western artist is
an outsider.  However, such a
consequence would render the label of "outsider art" completely
useless.  The artists collected here are
notable for seeming to work outside of any artistic traditions, although
this is obviously simplistic.  Editor
Annie Carlano addresses the problem of categorization in her introduction but
concludes that while being flawed, "outsider art" remains the best
label we have at this stage. 

In this book, the artists included
are:

·       
Gedewon, from Ethiopia, who works in talismanic art

·       
William Hawkins, an African-American from Kentucky, who
works in enamel and mixed-media

·       
Martin Ramirez, from Mexico, who works in pencil,
crayon, and mixed media on paper

·       
Nek Chand, from India, who creates sculptures

·       
Hung Tung, from Taiwan, who draws and paints

·       
Charlie Willeto, from Southwest USA, who creates
painted wood carvings

·       
Anna Zemankova, from Moravia, who makes oil pastels on
paper sometimes using mixed-media

·       
Carlo Zinelli, from Italy, hospitalized for mental
illness, who works in tempura on paper

Each artist has a chapter devoted to him or her, with text
written by an expert, with details of the artist’s life, and explanations of
the work.  The writing is clear and
helpful, and really helps the reader better understand the work.  The book is very nicely illustrated with
plenty of examples of artists’ work, including expanded details of some
pictures. 

The different artists have very
little in common with each other. 
Different readers will have their own favorites, and probably will find
some of the artists of questionable interest. 
I found the highly geometric and detailed work of Gedewon fascinating,
and the story of Nek Chand, who created his own world in sculpture in the
middle of the jungle, is magnificent. 
The colorful and lively drawings and paintings of Hung Tung are
delightful.  On the other hand, I could
see little of interest in the wood carvings of Charlie Willeto, which struck me
as crude.

Readers need to make their own
judgments about the artists, but this is certainly a valuable book for those interested
in outsider art.  Probably some or all
of the artists will be previously unknown to most readers, and this serves as
an excellent introduction to them. 

 

Links to some of the artists’ work

·       
Martin Ramirez

·       
Nek Chand

·       
Hung Tung

·       
Charlie
Willeto

·       
Anna Zemankova

·       
Carlo
Zinelli

 

 

© 2005 Christian Perring. All
rights reserved. 

 

Christian
Perring, Ph.D., is Academic Chair of the Arts & Humanities
Division and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long
Island. He is also editor of Metapsychology Online Review.  His
main research is on philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and
psychology.

Categories: ArtAndPhotography