Without Borders: Outsider Art in an Antipodean Context

Without Borders, Outsider Art in an Antipodean Context, an exhibition curated by Glenn Barkley, a PhD candidate at Sydney College of the Arts, and Peter Fay, will be on display at MUMA, Monash University, until 21 June. The exhibition catalogue features an essay by Professor Colin Rhodes, Dean of SCA, and the author of Outsider Art: Spontaneous Alternatives.

The exhibition, jointly produced by the Campbelltown Arts Centre and Monash University Museum of Art, explores the role of outsider art and positions Australian and New Zealand artists in an international context. Outsider art generally refers to creative works by people with no formal training. Their art is based on their inner experience, with no reference to mainstream art practice. Rhodes essay explores the connections between ‘outsider art’ and ‘mainstream art’. His essay separates outsider art from psychiatric art, and instead explores the relationships it has to mainstream art, including the influence it has on mainstream artists.

Rhodes research on outsider art also features in the 2008 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Book of the Year, Events of 2007. The report, Outsider Art: Moving in from the Margins, reflects on the work of Martin Ramirez who’s art was produced within the California psychiatric hospital, that was home to Ramirez for the majority of his adult life. In the report Rhodes also delves into the history of outsider art and explores the wider acceptance of this since the 1990’s.

Image: MUMA Without Borders Installation