Outsider Art – An Introduction

The term Outsider Art refers to the creative work of artists who are self-taught and/or those who, for a variety of reasons, are fortunately impervious to being taught how to make art. It encompasses the ones who have not been institutionalized -the self-taught, the visionary, the intuitive, the eccentric; the schizophrenic, the developmentally disabled, the psychotic, the obsessive, the compulsive.

Outsider Art deals with immediacy, honesty and the highly personal content. It shows pure creative human impulse made apparent without the adulterating and crippling effects of art history or formal training. True expression occurs when the artist speaks directly from personal vision, experience, memory, intuition, obsession or compulsion rather than from or to popular ideals.

The purpose of art that we are taught is to embellish the ordinary, to remodel the unpleasant. In all of this, the truth is eventually covered up and mostly hidden. The real truth is only seen through the eyes of the Outsider Art. It does not take any pretence under its wings. Outsider Art is for those who want to seek truth through art. Outsider Art remains indifferent to the audience reaction; it solely aims to release the self through the brush.

The Workshop – Activities and Duration

With our endeavour to resuscitate the Outsider Art, we aim to start a movement that embraces artists who are unaware of their aptitude. We would like to commence with "Art Healing", an art workshop for the developmentally disabled patients. Art Healing or Art in Hospitals shall comprise of a 7-10 Day workshop that will encourage the participants to come out and enjoy the delight that art brings with it!

The art fair would be the first of its kind in special homes for the developmentally disabled in India. Later Art in Hospital would exhibit patients' work alongside other commercial art in India. To successfully promote "Art Healing" we should strive to work on collaborative projects like seminars, publication and online media to reach national and international audience. The media prowess can act as a catalyst in promoting events like these and gather support for future endeavours of this kind.

As we have mentioned before the truest Outsider Art creators were raw artists who never considered themselves artists; in fact they never recognized their work as Art. With the help of this project we hope to revive Outsider Art with people who know how to create them in the best possible way

Our Objective

Our primary objectives behind starting the Outsider Art Movement are to promote dignity, well-being and self-determination of people suffering mental distress. Art Fairs like these will not only provide them a welcome break from their monotonous schedules but also expose them to their own lurking abilities through the medium of art.

With this effort we wish to seek improvements and support the treatment of people with psychological and emotional difficulties. Projects like Art Fairs will help in ensuring that the causes of those problems are addressed. With the help of Social Media and various form of online as well as offline publications, movements like ours will raise public awareness about mental health through exceptional pieces of art