Outsider Art: Spontaneous Alternatives (World of Art)

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Summary: Outsider Art - Spontaneous Alternatives
Review: A clear concise and thoughroughly interesting view of "Art Brut" in the 20th Century. The representation of work produced outside the mainstream, provides clues and understanding of contemporary art. A must have for a complete art book collection.

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Summary: Great Introduction to the subject...comprehensive!
Review: As a collector of thrift store paintings, I was completely enthralled with this book! I couldn't put it down. I now look at my paintings with a new perspective. This book was able to validate many of my intuitive feelings about the creative process. Thank-you Colin Rhodes for this insightful look at some of the least understood of paintings!

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Summary: Expand your definition of quality in art
Review: This examination of outsider art begins with artist Jean Duboffet and his formation of the Art Brut movement in the mid-1940s. Duboffet's primary criterion for inclusion in the outsider category was that the artist had to exist outside of the prevalent culture of society. He amassed a huge collection of art that he culled initially from the works of children, and eventually from psychiatric patients. Colin Rhodes goes on to trace the pre-Art Brut history of appreciating the works of the "insane", and proceeds to document representative examples as well as the forces in society that brought attention to them. Rhodes also examines additional sources for outside art including artists working through spiritual mediums, self-taught visionaries creating obsessive environments, and people working outside the mainstream currents of power and culture.

Rhodes is even-handed while presenting the various schools of thought as well as their rationales concerning outsider art definitions. His writing is academic, and lacks any sense of humor, but is incredibly informative and representative. The book is beautifully crafted, with copious plates reproducing samples from various artists. Together with his academic pontifications, they are very illuminating and convey a full understanding of this broad subject. He also includes anecdotes about the lives of these artists that serve to enliven the experience of reading the book. If you are interested in 20th century art and beyond, and will resolve to be patient with the author's academic tone, I think you will really enjoy this.