Outsider Art Museums. Visual & Performing Arts Essay

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Outsider Art Museums
Outsider art is a type of art that is self-taught. Usually, outsider artists have minimal interaction with the conventional art and their foundations. In most instances, their works is discovered after their death. Very often, these art works illustrate exceptional mental conditions, original ideas, or other unique fantasy aspects of the world. While the general territory of folk art in the United States had been analyzed and mapped by connoisseurs, collector, and art dealers, there was a remarkable renewal of this arts forms in the 1980s and 1990s. This interest saw the introduction of commercial galleries and public museums that mainly stored and exhibited such works. Two of such museums include the Outsider Art Fair in New York and the American Folk Arts Museum
The annual Outsider Art Fair in New York is an example of a public museum that is synonymous with outside work. The site has been in operation since 1993 and celebrated its 27th year in January 2019. The museum was founded by Sandy Smith, who was previously famous for The Fall Antiques show in 1979. Smith is said to have established the museum following advice from his handlers and derived its name from Roger Cardinal’s book called Outsider Art (1972). Cardinal, on his part, derived the name of the book as a synonym to the French Art Brut. The edition debuted its exhibitions in Manhattan in the Puck Building, a historic structure located in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. While the fair had gained popularity in the 1990s, its popularity began declining and in 2012, Andrew Edlin helped revive its operations through financial support. Edlin recruited vendors and provided other forms of assistance and in 2013, he acquired it under his company called Wide Open Arts. Following its acquisition, the Outsider Art Fair is reported to have regained its interest among the masses and even tripled its attendances at the New York location. Following its success Open Arts launched the Pars edition of the fair. The New York Outside fair has been located at Center 548 since its acquisition and had been an event venue for the exhibition. However, it no longer exists and hence it operates in the Metropolitan Pavillion and hosts more than 60 exhibitions.
In 2009, the Fair was in its 17th year when Roberta Smith, a New York Times art critic raised concerns about the use of the term outsider to refer to virtually any form of art that was self-taught. In his criticism, he noted that the term had almost lost its meaning in current times as many insider artists were self-taught and isolated and hence difficult to establish a clear distinction between the modern isolated forms of art from the traditional unique art (Fitzgerald & VanderLans). The Fair is now 28 years old and continues to shake up New York with its unique vision of eccentrics, mediums, the untrained and other forms of art that are often eschewed by fine art insiders. The museum remains a flagship event that focuses on European art brut but also taking place in Paris since 2012 (Schuster 165). Following its active exhibition shows, the interest in outsider art has continued to grow and has expanded into other major museu...