Vernacular Visionaries : International Outsider Art

Outsider Art is a name for the often mesmerizing creations of those who live and work at a distance from prevailing notions about mainstream artistic trends, individuals who are frequently unaware of themselves as artists or of their creations as art. This strikingly beautiful book presents and discusses some of the twentieth century's most significant examples of Outsider Art. Global in scope, the book features essays by leading international scholars on eight artists from around the world, including Gedewon, a cleric from Ethiopia who made unique and psychedelic talismans; William Hawkins, an African-American self-taught artist with a unique pop sensibility; the Mexican artist Martin Ramirez, creator of largescale enigmatic works that tell tales of mestizo life; Nek Chand Saini, whose extraordinary Rock Garden in Chandigarh, India, is a leading visionary site; Hung Tung, whose dynamic, colorful scrolls reflect both traditional Taiwanese culture and fantastic imagination; Charlie Willeto, former Navajo medicine man and carver of raw, expressionistic figures and animals; Anna Zemankova, maker of sensual, dreamy, biomorphic drawings, perhaps done in a trance or mediumistic state, a long-standing tradition in the Czech lands; and Carlo Zinelli, an Italian artist whose bold graphic compositions display incredible patterns and energy. In a cross-disciplinary approach, the contributors explore not only individual artistic sensibility but also the role of the artists' personal experiences in their own culture, focusing on how the external world affects the art of these "outsiders." Vernacular Visionaries also includes an introduction by Annie Carlano and an essay by John Beardsley that focuses on the critical reception of Outsider Art. Filled with stunning photographs and new scholarship, the book presents a major study of international Outsider Art and demonstrates the importance of place and time -- as well as internal genius -- in these artists' creative processes. Book jacket.

Annie Carlano is curator of European and North American Collections at the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe John Beardsley is senior lecturer in landscape architecture at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design Caterina Gemma Brenzoni is consulting curator at the Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona Victoria Y. Lu is associate professor of art history at Shih-Chien University, Taipei John Maizels is director of the Nek Chand Foundation, London Jacques Mercier is a Fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris Susan Brown McGreevy is research associate at the School of American Research and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and is on the faculty of Santa Fe Community College Randall Morris is lecturer at the Folk Art Institute, New York