I just finished reading an article written by Jerry Saltz on 'outsider' art. it was good, and roughly echoed my sentiments on the subject. I was most moved by a comment made by The Museum of Everything, however.
Here it is in its entirety:
"Mr Saltz, well said. We humbly bow our heads and prepare to march
on midtown. Yet within your huggable call to arms, there is more to be
uttered.
The Outsider Art Fair has blossomed under Andrew
Edlin's spirited leadership. This weekend New Yorkers are drifting
through the gallery spaces like never before, wowed by the delicate,
private worlds on display.
So is it a blip or a revolution?
Artists
who make for themselves, not for us, whose languages are expressed
without mind to the market, museum or masses, reveal essential truths
about human creativity.
Contemporary art opened our eyes to
their unusual forms and formats; yet the Duchampian gatekeepers of art
reject those who do not or cannot provide context. That's why the hidden
metaphors of invisible makers are rarely given priority.
What you are actually talking about is segregation - no more, no less.
Why
is Bill Traylor, one of the first African-American artists, not in
institutions for historical American art? Why is Henry Darger, the
grandaddy of post-modern fantasy, not in Tate Modern? Why are the
assemblages of Judith Scott, the poster-girl for learning-disabled
artists, not perceived as major artworks by major institutions?
The
problem, as you rightly finger, are the words themselves. Since we
first spotted this brilliant, unruly stuff, we've been fencing it in. We
call these discoveries brut, naive, visionary, outsiders ... dammit, we
even call them primitives.
These are people, just like us,
who are complex, just like us, who are black, just like us, who are
creative, just like us, who are disabled, just like us, and who are out
there, doing their thing, trying to make sense of the world around them.
That is why the work speaks so loudly. It represents us. It is us.
So
you got it spot on, Mr Saltz. There are no outsiders. There is no
outsider art. We were created, so we must create. These artists reach
back to the caves and leap into the cosmos. And their vast, global,
secret, alternative history of art has existed long before the word
"art" decided what was hot and what was not.
The troops are
assembled. The target is in sight. Creativity is a human right, not just
for some, but for all. Together we will change the trajectory of art
forever.
Vive la révolution, The Museum of Everything "
