I'm looking forward to seeing the Sister Gertrude Morgan exhibition at the Folk Art Museum sometime soon. I have always been interested in outsider art, but this show is especially intriguing to me given the fact that I lived there in New Orleans for a year in college and my mother was born and raised there. I absolutely love, love, love New Orleans and all of the eccentric behavior that passes for normal in the South.
There is so much fabulous outsider art that has entered the mainstream, and yet it seems to appeal to a niche audience. I find the unique cosmology of outsider artists to be one of their most compelling traits. It's too bad that the Folk Art Museum's website doesn't go much into Sister Gertrude's artistic philosophy, or her motivating belief that she was "the bride of Christ." At the Guggenheim, I once saw an intricate, highly ornamental coat made by an institutionalized man who thought he would wear it to meet God. I think it was part of the Brazil: Body & Soul exhibition, but I'm not certain of that fact.
Other artists are motivated by more earthly concerns, such as painting their community and local happenings. Socially conscious New York trade activist Ralph Fasanella and Gullah Islander Sam Doyle come immediately to mind. The New Orleans Museum of Art has a small but very charming collection of works by Sam Doyle.
A self taught artist, Doyle paints on wood, scraps of metal, and anything that is conveniently found around the island. His art documents the community, prominently displaying important members of St. Helena. One of the most well known people on the island was Dr. Buzz. a Voodoo Doctor that listened to a conch shell for advice. Doyle also documented many of the firsts of his community. "The First Football Game on St. Helena Island" is an example of this.
The quilt show at The Whitney last year was really amazing, and it was wonderful to see the original, strikingly modern works by the women of Gee's Bend receive their proper due. One of the things I most remember most about the exhibition was reading on a wall placard how isolated the community was after the residents tried to vote in the '60s and the only ferry service to the mainland was abruptly discontinued as a direct result.
Last time I went to Los Angeles, I visited the Watts Towers, which really must be seen to be believed. Simon Rodia's multi-decade art works constitute an amazingly vibrant, complex sculpture of found objects and deliberate artistry.
If any of this piques your interest, there is an terrific magazine devoted to outsider art called Raw Vision.
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