Author Archives: Linda

Art worlds and art markets

February 4, 2025

Artist:  Karl Goertzen

In any discussion about art, outsider or otherwise, it is important to consider how the artwork made the journey from the artist’s studio to a gallery or museum. There are millions of artists in the world and most of them are frustrated because they have no venue to exhibit their work, no gallerist who supports their vision, and no income that reflects their hard work. Are some artists just lucky?

While many outsider artists do not want to share their work with the public, most artists would like their talent to be acknowledged but feel excluded from the art market. But art doesn’t exist in a vacuum.  There are established social structures made up of institutions (like art academies and museums), support systems of influential patrons and critics, and opinions about artists and artmaking. Often it comes down to a gallerist’s business decision about whether the artwork is marketable or not. Linda Nochlin (a feminist art historian) and Howard Becker (who wrote about the sociology of art) explain that art becomes public through collective actions: the cooperation of artists, suppliers of materials, art distributors, critics, and audiences. These individuals and organizations collaborate to create art worlds, like contemporary art, folk art, outsider art, etc.

While there is a world of outsider art in that there is a community of those who advocate for it, there is no outsider art world per se, for that would suggest the artists are engaged in critical dialogue with each other and their supporters, like collectors, gallerists, and academics. In reality, outsider artists are not connected to any art-related world; their work is personal, singular, and highly individualistic. They are not part of the discussion about the parameters and definitions of outsider art because they are not interested in such issues. Their work reaches the public only through the efforts of those who champion the genre.

Outsider art is outside the continuum of art history, outside the parameters recognized by established art institutions, and outside the collective discourse of the mainstream art world.

Nouveau Livre: Art Brut Du Canada

Sortie Mars 2024

Front Book Cover for Outsider Art of Canada

New Book: Outsider Art Of Canada

Release in March 2024

The Dodo Bird always wanted to be a commercial pilot. A high school teacher informed him that he would always be a flightless creature – a Dodo Bird – because of his failing grades. He proved the teacher wrong and has been a Bush pilot in Northern Ontario and the Arctic for the past 37 years. Teaching himself how to draw, paint, and sculpt in the remote regions of Canada, his drawings indicate the latitude and longitude where he has hidden carvings for curious explorers to find. You might find a Dodo Bird sticker in the strangest places: at the beach in Florida, a railing in Venice, on a street corner in Toronto. But … who is this guy? And what’s with the forks in his paintings?

Film about Bill Anhang

Watch BILLSVILLE, a CBC short documentary about Montreal artist, William (Bill) Anhang. It contains wonderful footage of Bill and his fabulous world of art. Watch it on CBC’s website, or on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8juzDVf14kA

Palmerino Sorgente

Palmerino Sorgente (Papa Palmerino, the Pope of Montreal) immigrated to Montreal from Italy where he supported his large family through various ventures. He had a vision in 1970, where the Virgin Mary told him that he was the Pope and his mission was to serve God. Sorgente opened an eccentric shop filled with hand-made and purchased religious artifacts.

To those who remember him, Sorgente didn’t think he was the Pope; he was the Pope. He struck a regal posture in his home-made capes, hats, and religious medallions. Customers came to receive his blessing and pray with him in the prayer room at the back of his shop. He was a prolific creator of jewel-studded hats, some of which reached 6 feet in height.