Outsider Art Podcast

Born into slavery in the American South in 1853, emancipated in 1865 and living into his 90's Bill Traylor's life spanned a tumultuous time in US history. He had lived for over 8 decades before he began creating the art for which he has become known and his extant works come from a period between 1939 and 1942. Bill Traylor is an American Master who packed a lifetime of experiences into his short career as an artist creating a potent and still relevant body of work that resonates just as powerfully as ever.

Bill Traylor on Artsy (Between Worlds show) - https://www.artsy.net/show/smithsonian-american-art-museum-between-worlds-the-art-of-bill-traylor

Cover Image - Bill Traylor. Untitled (Yellow Chicken). circa 1939-40

Reading List

Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor. Leslie Umberger. ISBN - 978-0691182674

Bill Traylor - Deep Blues. Edited by Josef Helfenstein and Roman Kurzmeyer. ISBN - 0 300 081960

Bill Traylor William Edmondson and the Modernist Impulse. Edited by Josef Helfenstein and Roxanne Stanulis. ISBN - 1-883-01535-9

Bill Traylor, Conjure and Intentionality. Randall Morris. Raw Vision Magazine #100

The World of Bill Traylor. Leslie Umberger. Antiques Magazine - July/August 2018

America is a snarling dog. Jerry Saltz. New York Magazine - November 25-December 8 2019

Video Links

Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor. Smithsonian symposium youtube link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0uD1XJCILk

Documentary

Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts - http://www.billtraylorchasingghosts.com/

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Judith Scott was born on May 1st 1943 and passed away, in the arms of her twin sister Joyce, in March 2005 aged 62 years old. Not unlike Adolf Wolfli and Martin Ramirez, Scott lived a life that was broken into distinct parts, but unlike Wolfli and Ramirez it was her freedom from institutionalisation that led to her embarking on her artistic career.

Judith Scott on Artsy - https://www.artsy.net/artist/judith-scott

Cover Image - Judith Scott. Untitled. 2004

Reading List

Judith Scott – Bound and Unbound. Edited by Catherine Morris & Matthew Higgs. ISBN – 978-3-7913-5384-5

Metamorphosis: The Fiber Art of Judith Scott. John M. MacGregor. ISBN - 978-0967316000

Entwined: Sisters and Secrets in the Silent World of Artist Judith Scott. Joyce Wallace Scott. ISBN – 978-0807051405

Judith Scott 'Cocoon'. Roberta Smith. New York Times - Art in Review - May 3rd 2002

The work of (creating) art. Benjamin Fraser. Cultural Studies 24:4 - 16th March 2010

Documentaries

Que tienes debajo del sombrero - http://www.debajodelsombrero.org/video.php?id=1096&lang=en

Outsider: The life & art of Judith Scott - https://reelabilities.org/film/outsider-the-life-art-of-judith-scott/

Judith Scott's Magic Cocoons - https://www.artbrut.ch/en_GB/articles/movies/judith-scott-s-magic-cocoons

AFAM Discussion

Virtual Insights: Judith Scott. American Folk Art Museum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8szSesCET88

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The artwork of Martín Ramírez is singularly distinctive. Once seen, never forgotten and always recognisable, his drawings play many of the same notes time and again, rearranged and reimagined but always clearly in his hand...

Martín Ramírez on Artsy - https://www.artsy.net/artist/martin-ramirez

Cover image - Martín Ramírez - Untitled (Alamentosa) - detail - C.1953

Reading List

Martín Ramírez - Framing his life and art. Victor M. Espinosa. ISBN 978-1-4773-0775-5

Framing Martín Ramírez. Victor M. Espinosa. Dissertation (2012) - UMI Number: 3527726

Martín Ramírez. Brook Davis Anderson. ISBN-13: 978-0-9778028-1-4

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Last time on the Outsider Art Podcast we left Martín Ramírez in 1948, having met Tarmo Pasto, the main actor in his discovery narrative. Pasto would go on to play one of the major roles in the last part of Ramírez’s life as an artist and be the primary source of his story and guardian and promoter of his work as it made it’s way firstly into minor exhibitions and then, via Jim Nutt and Phyllis Kind, into the commercial art world.

Martín Ramírez on Artsy - https://www.artsy.net/artist/martin-ramirez

Cover image - Martín Ramírez - Untitled (Train and Tunnel) - C.1950

Reading List

Martín Ramírez - Framing his life and art. Victor M. Espinosa. ISBN 978-1-4773-0775-5

Framing Martín Ramírez. Victor M. Espinosa. Dissertation (2012) - UMI Number: 3527726

Martín Ramírez. Brook Davis Anderson. ISBN-13: 978-0-9778028-1-4

Formulaic Narrative in Outsider Art: The containment of Martín Ramírez and the classification of Thornton Dial. Cara Zimmerman Campbell. Thesis (2009) - UMI Number: 1469486

Outsider Art. Visionary Worlds and Trauma. Daniel Wojcik. ISBN 9781496808066

Groundwaters. A Century of Art by Self Taught and Outsider Artists. Charles Russell. ISBN 978-3-7913-4490-4

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First things first – let’s get some of the myths about Martín Ramírez straight – he wasn’t mute, at the time of his committal he was very likely not severely mentally ill, and the Freudian interpretation of a sexualised meaning to his many drawings of trains and tunnels is highly likely to be erroneous and, in the cold light of meaningful biography, wildly out of context...

Martín Ramírez on Artsy - https://www.artsy.net/artist/martin-ramirez

Cover image - Martín Ramírez - Untitled (Four animals) - C.1953

Reading List

Martín Ramírez - Framing his life and art. Victor M. Espinosa. ISBN 978-1-4773-0775-5

Martín Ramírez. Brook Davis Anderson. ISBN-13: 978-0-9778028-1-4

Outsider Art. Visionary Worlds and Trauma. Daniel Wojcik. ISBN 9781496808066

Groundwaters. A Century of Art by Self Taught and Outsider Artists. Charles Russell. ISBN 978-3-7913-4490-4

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“The victor (Wolfli), at one with the sacrifice, here in full grandeur; never has the front of the coin contrasted so strongly with the reverse: on the one side, ithyphallic, pursuing some poor little girl, on the other side, cheerful, though always locked in, sleeves rolled up, plug of tobacco in his cheek, in front of a pile of his most vivid creations, which, as an ensemble, represent one of the three or four most important oeuvres of the twentieth century. And, what is not, shall be. Amen, amen: Amen. And thus it shall be.” Andre Breton 1965

Adolf Wolfli on WikiArt - link

Cover Art - Adolf Wolfli - The Giant-City, St. Adolf's Hall (1914)

Reading List

Adolf Wolfli. Draftsman, Writer, Poet, Composer - Editor Elka Spoerri - ISBN 0-8014-3403-3

Adolf Wolfli. Creator of the Universe - ISBN 978-80-87164-95-2

The Art of Adolf Wolfli. St. Adolf-Giant-Creation - ISBN 0-691-11498-6

Outsider Art. Visionary Worlds and Trauma - Daniel Wojcik - ISBN 9781496808066

Groundwaters. A Century of Art by Self Taught and Outsider Artists - Charles Russell - ISBN 978-3-7913-4490-4

Parallel Visions. Modern Artists and Outsider Art - ISBN - 0875871666

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In 1916 as part of the second of his narrative works, the Geographic and Algebraic Books, Wolfli assigned himself a new name (which required some explanation),

“St. Adolf the I, Great-King of Grenoble-St. Adolf King, Giant-City in Savojen; last named with an additional calculation-supplement of 50 hours is my third-youngest brother as a Great-God! And I am St. Adolf II, Couscous King and King Great-God. Bern, Friday, the 23rd June 1916”

After 16 years of concentrated work he must have felt he had earned this enriched sobriquet...

Adolf Wolfli on WikiArt - link

Cover Art - Adolf Wolfli - The Amazons (detail) (1919)

Reading List

Adolf Wolfli. Draftsman, Writer, Poet, Composer - Editor Elka Spoerri - ISBN 0-8014-3403-3

Adolf Wolfli. Creator of the Universe - ISBN 978-80-87164-95-2

The Art of Adolf Wolfli. St. Adolf-Giant-Creation - ISBN 0-691-11498-6

Outsider Art. Visionary Worlds and Trauma - Daniel Wojcik - ISBN 9781496808066

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When Adolf Wolfli passed away on November 6th, 1930 he was working on what would become his final uncompleted work - Funeral March. He left behind 45 large self-bound books, and 16 exercise books of over 25,000 pages in total which included 1,600 drawings and 1,600 collages as well as approximately 50 Early artworks (from 1904-1907), numerous pieces of, what Walter Morgenthaler called, “Bread Art” but are now more commonly referred to as his single sheet drawings, as well as intricately painted objects such as a screen and wooden closets...

Artwork

Episode Cover art - Adolf Wolfli 'The Covered Almighty-Kettle' (1926)

Adolf Wolfli on WikiArt click here

Wolfli's Vocabulary of Forms

Wolfli's Vocabulary of Forms (from Adolf Wolfli. Draftsman, Writer, Poet, Composer - Editor Elka Spoerri)

Reading List

Adolf Wolfli. Draftsman, Writer, Poet, Composer - Editor Elka Spoerri - ISBN 0-8014-3403-3

Adolf Wolfli. Creator of the Universe - ISBN 978-80-87164-95-2

The Art of Adolf Wolfli. St. Adolf-Giant-Creation - ISBN 0-691-11498-6

Outsider Art. Visionary Worlds and Trauma - Daniel Wojcik - ISBN 9781496808066

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An introduction to the Outsider Art Podcast in which I introduce myself, tell you what the podcast series is going to be about and get tangled up in the existential quagmire that is Outsider Art.

In short summary the Outsider Art Podcast will be an episodic series looking at the Art, Artists, History, Controversies and whatever else raises its head as we do a deep dive into this fascinating genre.

We will be exploring the Art and Artists that sit (often uncomfortably) within the genre, finding out about the history and the critical events, texts, exhibitions and personalities, and sifting through the "term warfare" controversies that have surrounded Outsider Art for many decades. But mostly we'll be celebrating the outstanding masterworks that have sprung from outside the art establishment.

Carmen Brown - Untitled

Each Episode will come with a reading list and this one is no different. It's by no means a complete list of what's available on the subject but they are all texts that I've either referenced in the show and/or have referred to in the past:

Books:

Outsider Art - Roger Cardinal - ISBN 0-289-70168-6

How to look at Outsider Art - Lyle Rexer - ISBN 0-8109-9202-7

Outsider Art. From the Margins to the Marketplace - David Maclagan - ISBN 978-1-86189-521-9

Outsider Art. Visionary worlds and trauma - Daniel Wojcik - ISBN 9781496808066

Vernacular Visionaries. International Outsider Art - Edited by Annie Carlano - ISBN 0-300-10173-2

Raw Creation. Outsider Art and Beyond - John Maizels - ISBN 0-7148-4009-2

Raw Vision. Outsider Art Sourcebook - Editor John Maizels - ISBN 0-9543393-0-4

Outsider Art. Spontaneous Alternatives - Colin Rhodes - ISBN0-500-20334-2

Parallel Visions. Modern Artists and Outsider Art - Edited by Maurice Tuchman and Carol S.Eliel - ISBN 0-87587-165-8

The Discovery of the Art of the Insane - John M. MacGregor - ISBN 0-691-04071-0

Artistry of the Mentally Ill - Hans Prinzhorn (translated by Eric von Brockdorff) - ISBN 978-3-662-00918-5

Papers:

On Outsider Art and the Margins of the Mainstream - Marcus Davies - 2007

Exhibitions of Outsider Art Since 1947 - Christina McCollum - 2017

Periodicals:

Raw Vision magazine

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