Photography "Outsiders" *

Front of the card

We had a great meeting on the 14th that included a wonderful new participant to the group (Hello Gail!)  And speaking of "participant" and "group" I decided to make up an "acknowledgement of participation" card.  Don't worry, you can get one too.  Just come to a meeting or two, and stay art curious!

By consensus for our next meeting we decided to examine a contemporary photographer, Kyle Thompson.  He is just starting out but his work is very accomplished.  To balance things out it seemed interesting to add one of the grand-daddies of photography: Alfred Stieglitz.  As is always the case with a lively conversation, one artist brought another to mind and Diane Arbus was brought into the mix.  Her work got us

Inside of the card

onto the subject of the outsider artist and the recently discovered photographer Vivian Maier.   I personally find the subject of the "outsider" artist quite fascinating and decided to add Henry Darger's works.  He was not a photographer but he was definitely an "outsider" and not just in the art world.

Contemporary art is often difficult for the those outside the art world to "get."  Many art works that are now part of the art canon were also viewed this way in their own time.  Let 50-100 or more years pass and all bets are off on how we might view the work.  Another factor that may make the viewer extra fascinated with an "outsider" artist is how the artist manages to produce the work (in some cases large amounts for many, many years,) with no outside support or feedback.  How does the artist keep going?  In some cases the work is found posthumously - how would the artist feel about the discovery of their work and was it ever intended for anyone else's eyes?  We can add to these questions during our next discussion.  Photography is a really interesting medium to think about these ideas as the artist often uses themselves to make their work (as Kyle says because he always has access to himself.) These self portraits can become a stand in for more universal themes of identity, something the medium of photography is eminently qualified to consider.  And then there is the issue of the "truths" photography speaks because of it's quasi-representational nature.  Perhaps we will pick up the thread we began when Julie Casper Roth showed us her video. Lots of links to look at and read -  can't wait to see where the conversation takes us.  See you on the 28th!

* A working definition of an "outsider artist" - Art produced by self-taught artists who are not part of the artistic establishment.