Outside(r) art

Outside(er) art.

I an coming to the end of my second year at college (yes really - by mid-May we 2nd years have to be out of the way and our spaces vacated for the degree show).

My work has amassed into a jumble of what I have labelled 'box sculptures', with influences including Joseph Cornell, Louise Nevelson, Gaudi, Michael de Meng and many more. Mostly though, I have made my box sculptures up as I have gone along, by combining stuff I already had at home (years of collecting junk and bits and pieces for workshops) along with charity shop finds.

So I have selected a few of my creations to enhance my corner in the studio, and await the results of the assessment in a few weeks' time.

I apparently do not qualify to be an outsider artist, (Henry Darger), as I am at art college. I disagree with this exclusion as I do not feel my work falls into a particular fine art category.

(The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut, "raw art" or "rough art"), a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture. Wikipedia).

I made a lot - more than  10 - sculptures and there's no room for all of them in my final display so I am going to experiment further with my 'outsider art' by putting them outside in my garden and watching their decay.

"Mother's Ruin"

Ceramic work from the year