summative statement

'Outsider Artists' are artists who have not engaged with the 'art world'. They are 'isolated' from art institutions, and make their work entirely for personal reasons. They make art in a non-traditional settings.

The 'Outsider Artist', away from the art world, is not influenced by the work or words of others. The artist,  with no academic training, may create work that is visually and thematically unexpected to the usual art eye. Sometimes, particularly in Outsider Art, the artist displays tendencies to repeat a similar motif over an over. The Outsider Artist draws what they want to.

This project is an investigation into borrowing these elements into an already established artistic practice. It stems from a belief that, although working in non-traditional environments and circumstances, they are very much similar to all artists. These Outsider Artists should not be excluded, isolated or exploited for being "Outside", as so often they are.  There is a lot to be learned from the Outsider practice, from everyone.

This body of work and the corresponding exhibition proposal is an investigation of anonymity, private practice, repetition and intuitive mindset image making- factors observed in 'Outsider' Artists work and applied to an 'established/ insider' practice (my own). 

The theme "tigers" was chosen for simplicity and visual potential. The investigation into 'Outsider' Art practice soon merged into a personal exploration of how one individual subject matter could be pulled and shaped and twisted.

exhibition proposal presentation boards + close ups of items

The first two of these will be physically featured with the previous three development boards.

presentation boards: research, synthesis and development

an evaluation

COP3 was the point in which I finally began to really understand how the COP modules can be really beneficial for me- but I think that is so much in understanding yourself and what you want to do as well as an understanding of the module.

The module has changed the way I engage with other peoples' art, and made me more considerate and questioning of how work is exhibited, and the benefits that can be given to artists.

Writing the essay came with its struggles. I enjoyed the research and discussing the topic with people, but struggled to get into the headspace to address this academically. This lead to some issues with putting it off, but largely it stayed on track. I was reluctant to stray away from journal articles as my sources, and whilst I strongly believe that my approach to the argument was rational and wouldn't be affected anyway, I do think that some notes from people within the Outsider Art industry would have made a stronger and nuanced responses. I did try for these, but could have tried harder. I think with a distraction of covering many small topics I may have become absent-minded when it came to triangulation. Maybe fewer stronger arguments would have been more effective.

I was surprised to find myself struggling with the visual project. As discussed further in the blog and the essay, I struggled to engage with the project until I had set myself more of a challenge/ a brief. The aim of the work was to work 'selfishly', and I just couldn't be self-indulgent without something else driving it- but that in itself is a personal motivator. Because of that initial struggle I often became complacent and didn't make as much work as I could have done.

Working privately lead to a new level of introspection in the work that really became apparent post-project when uploading the work to social media. It didn't feel the same, suggesting that the *spark* is more often about conversation about the HAPPENING. This work, made in the past and set to rest, developed its own confidence. That said, this work was made in a very particular set of circumstances, so this isn't necessarily a truthful observation.

The visuals that came from the work weren't expected. I had assumed I would take experiments from the tools, but found myself far more interested in form and figure. The work really pushed a desire to make 'intuitive' work, and how that the best, or more interesting results come from frequent repetition. The image, over time, would naturally hone itself.

That said, and tying with the essay, I am starting to evaluate WHY I am interested in things that look strange or bizarre or 'intuitive'. The idea of "authenticity" is troubling when applied to Outsider Artists, and at best confusing when applied to everyone else. That said, as drawing becomes bigger, and free-er and more dictated by the hand than the brain, it does feel a little "primal". I want to investigate this further, though maybe not in such an academic way.

The exhibition was a good starting point as to something I had not considered before, but I think more time and care could have been taken into investigating how these work, in the marketing of it etc. That said, my biggest priority at the time was understanding and working with the processes- and with that, I think that should have had even MORE time taken to it.

Ultimately, very honestly, I feel I have gained a lot personally from the project, in regards to my own practice and outlook. So whilst it doesn't feel like a complete project, and I think there is a lot I could and should have done, but really it feels like the beginning of a new process for me, so I  find it hard to look back on it with regrets.

updated leaflet design

I re-designed the 'adult' leaflet to make it a little less clunky. Other than that, the text info is still the same.

sharing the project on social media

A big aim of the project was to see how working privately would affect my practice,  but I have now decided to share elements of it on (public) social media.

Although I can only propose the exhibition, that does not mean I cannot share this dialogue about outsider art and private practice in a different way. The big aim of the exhibition was to form this dialogue, and I hope that in sharing it to social media at least someone will consider this and maybe discuss it with me too!

Some examples I uploaded to instagram last night:

I also noted that it felt strange to upload these to social media. The privacy of the project gave the pieces their own confidence that meant an 'assurance' of likes on social media just didn't have quite the same effect (not that they do much anyway!) But it was less exciting to show them almost... Suggesting that the *thrill* of applying work to social media is to have a conversation about what is currently happening.

And later, less captions but still interested in peoples reactions to visuals :

exhibition and website proposals

Drawn proposal: less clunky than a badly photoshopped gallery space, and fits into the easy/accessible tone of voice

WEBSITE:

Every piece in the project is archived online at at-least-1000-tigers.tumblr.com

(If this was a live exhibition I would use a *real* website)

This serves as a tool to see each piece together in an easy format, as well as being accessible to those who would not be able to visit the exhibition (or want to study the work again).

Really though, its initial intention was just so I could monitor and assess all of the work together in an easy format. Each piece is a similar size and they each line with eachother- again, I don't want there to be a hierarchy of these images. 

repetition and evolution of a visual language

I noticed during the investigation that, although striving to make new and different looking work, I would find myself in a cycle of :

Established visual language -> purposely trying to make new visual symbols -> becoming complacent and using these as a new established visual language -> (repeat)

However it's not always a bad thing. These repeated symbols would often evolve as they were made again and again. The symbols could be mixed and matched. Establishing visual language saves time, and regardless, was new to what I had done before.

Ultimately, an artist isn't expected to make a different looking piece every time, and in a commercial sense this could be damaging to a portfolio. But a level of  self-awareness to not allowing work to become stale is helpful. 

Examples of wobbliness and a loose hand emerging in the visuals

Examples of roundness and bounciness with a disregard for realistic anatomy 

Examples of  the downturned tiger face, possibly the most significant repeating symbol in the project

decisions regarding progress of practical work

At one point I was considering making a series of final work to display as a 'representation' of what I have personally/ visually learned throughout the project. However, when looking at this work together, this does not feel relevant.

This project has been an examination of change and processes, and I do not see it as one project but the beginning of an ongoing investigation that will, essentially last a career. To hold up a few pieces as "final" seems detrimental, and against the point of the project. The exhibition sets itself as an encourager of process and movement, and if a few pieces were touted as an "end" it would be contradictory and confusing for an audience. The experimenting in the project wasn't to make something "better", but to make something "different".

I do not see these images as a hierarchy.

COP3 and continuing these ideas into my own practice

The COP3 module has opened up and confirmed new ways of working for me in my own personal practice. Engaging with Outsider Art has taught me (in regards to my own work):

• the benefits of working privately, and being introspective of my work by myself
• what drives my practice: being self-driven for me means that I must also set myself a brief
• how there is absolutely not just one way to draw something, and how repeating an image and see how it naturally hones itself
• the joy of the intuitive 'wacky' aesthetic, and letting the hand draw for you without much thinking...

And in general, the focus and study of processes, figures, forms and how far I can push a visual subject feels like an investigation that will be infinitely ongoing. Exhibition and less-'illustrative' ways of working are on my mind, and this project has been a beginning to explore these, as well as evidence that I can show to someone who may be interested in working with me in such a way. Regardless, visuals and processes from this project are not mutually exclusive to commercial work. 

note on the "winters222" instagram

There are a few images on this instagram that I have since lost the physical copies of. They weren't hugely significant, but already at that early stage the visual symbols of skewed anatomy, strange faces and claws had already emerged.

crit presentation boards

At this point I hadn't made any mock-ups for the exhibition proposal so I drew them directly on to the space on the board instead. I quite enjoyed these results, and like the idea of a drawn proposal, particularly considering the complexity of photoshopping this kind of exhibition would probably not have good results.

exhibition leaflets v.1

Good: The text is mostly concise and understandable, and over the two leaflets a wide range of people (including children) can get a feel for the intention of the work and exhibition

Bad: The layout to the first layout is clumsy and cluttered, particularly viewable when printed.

large paintings

I wanted to try the skills and forms I had been working with at a large scale, considering that it may affect the processes or the outcomes. 

The larger I work, the free-er the hand has been, but it is difficult to gauge a composition by eye at this scale. 

Although large I did not want this to equate to them being considered a 'final' piece, they are just as much experimentations as the rest of the project. I do not see a hierarchy between say, this large piece and a small 20 second doodle on a sheet of paper as I consider them to all be part of the same process and investigation with the same goal of elevating my artistic practice into something new. This way of thinking is also new for me, and has made the entire artistic process comfortabler. 

exhibition ideas/ notes

I want to make a small leaflet to explain the project, with the main purpose of making the ideas and theories I had been exploring within my dissertation accessible to anyone.

There could even be two leaflets, one for adults and one for children or rather , one more contextually based and one more fun and about my personal thinking.

DRAFT->

----
There are at least 1000 ways to draw a tiger

What would happen if you drew the same thing over and over and over and over
          again?
What does it mean to work in isolation?

What does it mean to be intuitive?

What is 'authentic'?

'Outsider Artists' are artists who have not engaged with the 'art world'. They are 'isolated' from art institutions, and make their work entirely for personal reasons. They make art in a non-traditional settings.

The 'Outsider Artist', away from the art world, is not influenced by the work or words of others. The artist,  with no academic training, may create work that is visually and thematically unexpected to the usual art eye. Sometimes, particularly in Outsider Art, the artist displays tendencies to repeat a similar motif over an over. The Outsider Artist draws what they want to.

There are at least 1000 ways to draw a tiger is an investigation into borrowing these elements into an already established artistic practice. It stems from a belief that, although working in non-traditional environments and circumstances, they are very much similar to all artists. These Outsider Artists should not be excluded, isolated or exploited for being "Outside", as so often they are.  There is a lot to be learned from the Outsider practice, from everyone.

Recommended reading and viewing:
'Jarvis Cocker's Journeys Into The Outside', Channel 4, episodes 1-3 on Youtube
Lyle Rexer, 'How To Look at Outsider Art' (2005)
Lucien Peiry, 'Art Brut: The Origins of Outsider Art' (2001)

---

There are at least 1000 ways to draw a tiger

What does a tiger need to be a tiger?
If a tiger did not have his stripes, would he still be a tiger?

What do you think is important to make a tiger?
How many ways can you draw these things?

Can you make a new tiger?

----
Also:


I think it could be cool to encourage visitors to the exhibition to draw their own tigers, asking them to draw something crazy or wild or different, or encouraging it at least.

"What does a tiger mean to you?"

: space to draw tiger
: space to put this on the wall or if I'm feeling very *media savvy*, a corresponding hashtag.........

03/01/17

Although I very much wanted to avoid influence of other artists, the project is reminding me of other practitioners, namely those who work in an illustrative/ art practice (less Outsiders)

When thinking about the exhibition, I've been considering what Hannah Waldron had discussed about exhibiting work in a space that is not a traditional gallery space- e.g. her classmates who exhibited in a hairdressers and a museum (?). I can't remember what she had placed her work in though!

Tim Lahan's work recently has been of interesting... the rock and bin bags series feel relevant for their repetition of one motif (although being stacked into new images, i.e. a flower made of rocks). The main thing I get from this work is wondering, how does he keep himself going with this ? What is motivating him? It's that examination of what drives each individual artist... his work appears to be motivated by incredible repetition and care whereas in my own I've been motivated by variety and looseness.

 

Tim Lahan

Finally, Stefan Marx was noted to me as an artist who comes from an 'illustrative' background but engages in a more 'art' way. Thinking about his work, I am reminded of how this project can, should and will relate to my own practice. After this work, to be able to show someone I can think in this 'gallery' / 'non-traditional' mindset will be an asset.

painting compositions + papercuts

I've been sitting down and spending more time on individual pieces, though still encouraging myself to work in different ways for each. These were based on compositions mentioned before.

I'm finding I like it when gouache doesn't go as it should. Allowing media to dictate final image could feel lazy, but it just feels natural.

I also made a couple of papercuts whilst waiting for the paint to dry. I enjoyed the looseness and 'badness' in cutting a piece of paper with scissors rather than a knife, but the final result looked bad in a less endearing way.

I've been thinking about challenging visuals and at what point they look good/ acceptable / endearing, in my own work, but this must also have a tie with the selection and curation of Outsider Art, at what point is it "good"? Would someone, not knowing my work, consider it isolated? Would anyone consider it "authentic"?

I'm also struggling a little with the concept of exhibiting or presenting work that is not good-bad, but a removal of identity aids this.

Here are a few examples, the rest of these drawings are documented on this archive, and will be presented physically for submission: [link here]

due to loading of computer sometimes not all of the posts show up in a tagged search