Outsider art, also sometimes called "intuitive" or "folk art" is art created by a person unschooled in artistic expression. The ideal, according to outsider art connoisseurs, is a person with no artistic training, whose will toward artistic expression is nevertheless overpowering. This is supposed to show how deeply humans crave artistic expression, and the works are supposed to be valuable because of the purity of the effort.

The value placed on outsider art is often tied up more with the personality of the artist than with the quality of the art produced. (IMHO.) The more eccentric the better, and the more removed from any kind of formal art the better.

I am of two minds about this art movement. On the one hand, I have to admit that I really like a lot of the art I've seen and I'm glad I got to see it. On the other hand, it seems to exploit the artist on several levels. Aside from art dealers buying pieces for a few dollars and then selling them for thousands (more rare these days than it used to be), there's just something sacred about these works that I don't like to think about people exploiting. For example, works created by religious fervor are often highly prized by collectors who seem to me to be saying, "Wow! This guy is so ignorant he actually believes that the kingdom of god is on the way and it's going to have airplanes and big castles in it! Isn't that a hoot!" But maybe I'm being unfair.

Some famous outsider artists include:

/msg me if you think of any more, or add your own writeup.

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