Reading & Links
We share our knowledge, learnings, and experiences.
We focus on Australia and the Asia-Pacific while highlighting important global galleries, organisations and initiatives. Explore and share, and if you reference images, ideas and writing, ensure you credit the author, artist and source.
Global
Andrew Edlin Gallery
Established in 2001 in Chelsea with a program focused on outsider artists. In 2002, the gallery relocated to 20th street and in 2006 was awarded exclusive representation of the estate of Henry Darger. Andrew Edlin’s satellite company, Wide Open Arts, owns the Outsider Art Fair.
+ edlingallery.com
Art et al.
An inclusive, curated international art platform that commissions and presents collaborations between artists from supported studios, artist peers, and arts professionals to create an open, diverse, and inclusive contemporary art world.
+ artetal.org
Collection de l’Art Brut
Housing the world's first and finest Art Brut collection, the museum has forged strong links with institutions devoted to outsider art, creating a network to encourage exchange and collaboration.
+ artbrut.ch
Fleisher/Ollman Gallery
Fleisher/Ollman in Philadelphia has established a reputation as one of the world’s best sources for self-taught art. It has helped define the field and develop major public and private collections.
+ fleisher-ollmangallery.com
Folk Art Museum
Established in 1961, New York City’s only museum dedicated to folk and self-taught artists has celebrated the creativity of individuals whose singular talents are refined largely through personal experience rather than formal artistic training.
+ folkartmuseum.org
Grape Lab
A sustainable design lab in Seoul that works from a design perspective to engage people with disabilities in experimentation and solving environmental and social issues.
+ grapelab.co/en
Jennifer Lauren Gallery
Jennifer Gilbert passionately champions self-taught, disabled and overlooked artists from around the world with the firm intention of making the art world more inclusive and accessible.
+ jenniferlaurengallery.com
Museum of Everything
The world’s only wandering institution for untrained, unintentional, undiscovered, and unclassifiable artists of modern times (also the Gallery of Everything in London).
+ musevery.com
Nonconformers
A New History of Self-Taught Artists, by Lisa Slominski for Yale University Press, 2022. A global history of self-taught artists advocating for a nuanced understanding of modern and contemporary art often challenged by the establishment.
+ yalebooks.yale.edu
Outsider Art Fair
Established in 1993, the Outsider Art Fair is the premier fair dedicated to Self-Taught Art, Art Brut and Outsider Art. The fair is held biannually in New York City and Paris and features artwork, including drawings, paintings, sculptures, and mixed media.
+ outsiderartfair.com
Raw Vision
Raw Vision is the world's only international journal of Outsider Art, the art of “unknown geniuses” who are untrained, unschooled and uninfluenced by the art world.
+ rawvision.com
Ricco/Maresca Gallery
Following in the footsteps of the legendary New York art dealer Sidney Janis, Ricco/Maresca champions and showcases the art of self-taught masters working outside the continuum of art history. The gallery specializes in Outsider, Self-Taught, Contemporary, and historically significant American Folk Art in various media.
+ riccomaresca.com
Slominski Projects
Lisa Slominski is an American writer, curator, and researcher living in East London. Her work explores activations of access and inclusion in contemporary art discourse and examines the historical framework of underrepresented artists, with a particular interest in agency.
+ slominskiprojects.com
Summertime Gallery
Summertime champions an art world where artists with and without intellectual disabilities create and display work alongside one another. We strive to revolutionise the art world by breaking down the barriers that have made “outsiders” out of artists with disabilities.
+ summertimegallery.org
White Columns
Under the current direction of Matthew Higgs, White Columns was founded in 1970 by a group of artists, including Jeffrey Lew and Gordon Matta-Clark, as an experimental platform for art. It supports artists who have yet to benefit from wider critical, curatorial, or commercial attention.
+ whitecolumns.org
Australia & Asia Pacific
Articles
Corlett, Eva. ‘It’s good to be alive’: groundbreaking New Zealand artist brings light and joy to city streets, The Guardian (March 2022)
Luttin, Sim. Arts Project Australia: Raising the bar through collaborative partnerships, Sensoria: Access & Agency, Artlink (Spring 2022)
McQuilten, Grace. Self-Made: Arts Project Australia, Assemble Papers (10 August 2015)
Miekus, Tiarney. Bringing the outside in, Art Guide Australia (4 June 2021)
Miekus, Tiarney. Problematic or romantic? Why self-taught artists don't quite fit, The Sydney Morning Herald (19 June 2020)
Parlane, Anna. FEM-aFFINITY at Arts Project Australia, Memo Review (20 July 2019)
White, Anthony; Parlane, Anna; McQuilten, Grace; Green, Charles, Outsider Art in Australia: Artists’ Voices Versus Art-world Mythologies, Art & Australia, vol. 56 Issue 1, p41-48 (2019)
White, Anthony. Graeme Doyle, The Cunningham Dax Collection and Surrealist Discourse, Papers of Surrealism, vol. 6 (2007)
Arts Policies
National Cultural Policy — Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place, Federal Policy, Australia
Books
Harwood, Tristen; McQuilten Grace; White, Anthony. Variations: A More Diverse Picture of Contemporary Art, Clayton: Monash University Publishing (2023)
Jones, Karen; Koh, Eugen; Veis, Nurin; White, Anthony; Hurworth, Rosalind; Bell, Johanna; Shrimpton, Brad; Fitzpatrick, Anthony. Framing Marginalised Art, UoM Custom Book Centre (2010)
Lombardi, Sarah; Gomez, Edward M.; Hattori, Tadashi. Art Brut From Japan, Another Look, Lausanne. Collection de l'Art Brut and editions Infolio (2008)
Conference Papers
Luttin, Sim. The Power of Doing, part of the “Foraging for Feminism: excavating feminist histories and redefining feminist legacies at Arts Project Australia”, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne (February 2018)
Luttin, Sim. Issues in Contemporary Practice, part of the “Talk the Talk” lecture series, Art Curatorship Partnership Projects, University of Melbourne (April 2018)
Parlane, A. & White, A., Recentring Australian Art, Panel, IMPACT: Art Association of Australia & New Zealand (AAANZ) Conference, Sydney (December 2021)
White, Anthony. Outsider Art: Contemporary Considerations, part of the “Talk the Talk” lecture series, Art Curatorship Partnership Projects, University of Melbourne (April 2018)
Interviews & Presentations
Global Collaboration, Interview with Sim Luttin, PGAV
Peak Bodies
*NB: These sites link to other important state and national organisations
Arts Access Aotearoa, Wellington, New Zealand
Arts Access Australia, Sydney, Australia
Australian Museums and Galleries Association, ACT, Australia
Creative Australia, Sydney, Australia
National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), Sydney, Australia
Public Galleries Association of Victoria (PGAV), Melbourne, Australia
Podcasts
Cohen Solal, Philippe, host. “OUTSIDER, the amazing story of Henry Darger”, Apple Podcasts (May-April 2021)
Lassam, Cathy, creator. “The ARTguro Podcast”, ARTguro Podcasts (June 2024)
Miekus, Tiarney, host. “FEM-aFFINITY #1 Catherine Bell on inclusion and collaboration”, Art Guide Australia (February 1 2021)
Miekus, Tiarney, host. “FEM-aFFINITY #2 Janelle Low on creative relationships and otherness”, Art Guide Australia (February 26 2021)
Miekus, Tiarney, host. “FEM-aFFINITY #3 Anne Marsh on doing feminism”, Art Guide Australia (March 26 2021)
Real, Glen, host. “Outsider Art Podcast”, Acast (August 2020-current)
Triulcio, Damian L., creator. “Nemesis: The Jaded Millennium”, The Art Factory (2021)
Publications
Alessi, Vincent (curator). It takes more than 140 characters to write a novel, Arts Project Australia, Northcote, 2015
Bell, Catherine (curator). FEM-aFFINITY, National Exhibitions Touring Support Victoria; with Arts Project Australia as part of a NETS Victoria & Arts Project Australia touring exhibition, 2019
Daye, Cheryl; Ginter, Kitty. A Sense of Place, Arts Project Australia, Northcote, 2015
Findlay, Carly (editor). Growing Up Disabled in Australia, Black Inc. Books, 2021
Jones, K; Koh, E; Veis, N; White, Anthony; Hurworth, R; Bell, J; Shrimpton, B; Fitzpatrick, Anthony. Framing Marginalised Art, Cunningham Dax Collection & University of Melbourne Custom book Centre, 2010
Newton, Geoff (curator). Video Doctor, Arts Project Australia, Northcote, 2013
Sharkey, Patrice (curator). Auto Body Works, Arts Project Australia, Northcote, 2018
Stonehouse, Anne (with James McDonald). So Far… Eight Artists / Eight Stories, Arts Project Australia, Northcote, 2014
White, Anthony; Parlane, Anna; McQuilten, Grace; Green, Charles. “Outsider Art in Australia: Artists’ Voices Versus Art-world Mythologies”, (p41-48), Outsider Art in Australia: Artists’ Voices Versus Art-world Mythologies, Art & Australia, Vol. 56, Issue 1, 2019
Reading, Reports & Toolkits
Australia Council for the Arts, resources for Australian artists
Digital Bookshelf, Arts Project Australia
Reaching Potential: Experiences of young people with significant intellectual disability. Social Ventures Australia, commissioned by Limb Family Foundation, Melbourne, 2021
Resources
ARTguro, Phillippines
Cunningham Dax Collection
Recentring Australian Art: Beyond the Fixed Canons of Australian Art History
Supported Studios/ Initiatives
In Australia & Asia Pacific
Art Gusto, Djilang, Geelong, Australia
Arts Project Australia, Naarm, Melbourne, Australia
Art from the Margins, Meanjin, Brisbane, Australia
Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists, Central Desert Region, Australia
Co-Art Studio, Tarndanyangga, Adelaide, Australia
DADAA, Boorloo, Perth, Australia
Footscray Community Arts, Naarm, Melbourne, Australia
Grape Lab, Seoul, Korea
Ketemu, Bali, Indonesia & Singapore
Māpura Studios, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, New Zealand
Spinifex Hill Studio, South Hedland, Pilbara Region, Australia
Studio A, Eora, Sydney, Australia
TAB Space, Bandung, Indonesia
The Art Factory, Wagga Wagga, Australia
The Dax Centre, Naarm, Melbourne, Australia
The White Room, Ōtautahi, Christchurch, New Zealand
Tutti Arts, Tarndanyangga, Adelaide, Australia
Further Reading
Articles
Bissland, Emily. ‘Photography exhibition empowers people with a disability through alter-ego portraits’, ABC, (November 2023)
Bissland, Emily. ‘Retired country maths teacher Robert Martiensen created thousands of artworks in secret’, ABC (October 2023)
Perin, Victoria. ‘Alan Constable’s ceramic cameras capture his scrutinising gaze’, Art Guide Australia (May 2023)
Slominski, Lisa. ‘These Centers Are Helping Artists with Disabilities Break into the Mainstream (and the Market)’, Artsy (December (2017)
Books
Aviram, Anny; Minturn, Kent; Rosenthal, Mark. Dubuffet, J: Anticultural Positions, New York:
Rizzoli Publishing (2016)
Cardinal, R. Outsider Art, London: Studio Vista (1972)
Dubuffet, J. Towards an Alternative Reality, New York: Abbeville Press (1987)
Peiry, Lucienne; Frank, James. Art Brut: The Origins of Outsider Art, Paris: Flammarion (2006)
Rhodes, Colin. World of Outsider Art, London: Thames & Hudson (2022)
Thevoz, Michel. Art Brut, New York: Rizzoli Publishing (1976)