A look at twenty-nine artists who are "outside culture," unencumbered by "all kinds of cultural, social, indeed psychological prejudices."--p. 7.

Outsider art has exploded onto the international art scene, gaining widespread attention for its startling originality and visual power. As an expression of raw creativity, outsider art remains associated with self-taught visionaries, psychiatric patients, trance mediums, eccentric outcasts, and unschooled artistic geniuses who create things outside of mainstream artistic trends and styles. Outsider Art: Visionary Worlds and Trauma provides a comprehensive guide through the contested terrain of outsider art and the related domains of art brut, visionary art, "art of the insane," and folk art. The book examines the history and primary issues of the field as well as explores the intersection between culture and individual creativity that is at the very heart of outsider art definitions and debates. Daniel Wojcik's interdisciplinary study challenges prevailing assumptions about the idiosyncratic status of outsider artists. This wide-ranging investigation of the art and lives of those labeled outsiders focuses on the ways that personal tragedies and suffering have inspired the art-making process. In some cases, trauma has triggered a creative transformation that has helped artists confront otherwise overwhelming life events. Additionally, Wojcik's study illustrates how vernacular traditions, religious worldviews, ethnic heritage, and popular culture have influenced such art. With its detailed consideration of personal motivations, cultural milieu, and the potentially therapeutic aspects of art making, this volume provides a deeper understanding of the artistic impulse and human creativity.

Colin Rhodes surveys the history and reception of Outsider Art, first championed by Dubuffet and the Surrealists, and provides fresh critical insights into the achievements of both major figures and newly discovered artists.

Much has changed in the world of self-taught art since the millennium. Many of the recognized "masters" have died and new artists have emerged. Many galleries have closed but few new ones have opened, as artists and dealers increasingly sell through websites and social media. The growth and popularity of auction houses have altered the relationship between artists and collectors. In its third edition, this book provides updated information on artists, galleries, museums, auctions, organizations and publications for both experienced and aspiring collectors of self-taught, outsider and folk art. Gallery and museum entries are organized geographically and alphabetically by state and city.

Texas looms large: big skies, vast plains, large cities. The Lone Star State often inspires a heightened sense of place in its citizens that rivals or surpasses that of New Yorkers. This is frequently reflected in the art of Texas--paintings of bluebonnet fields, longhorn cattle, and scenes from the Texas frontier have long enjoyed popularity with collectors. Outsider artists, on the other hand, live and create on the fringes of culture and society. Generally removed from the influence of place, they prefer instead to chart their own, intensely personal, interior landscapes. They usually have little awareness of or connection to the mainstream art world or its history, and they typically possess limited intention that their work will have an audience or find a place in the broader landscape of art. Woven through the lives and work of outsider artists is a common thread of isolation. This isolation may be psychological, cultural, socioeconomic, geographical, racial, or institutionally imposed. Circumstances of life, chosen or not, have placed these artists apart. However, these artists, like their formally trained peers, find that they are compelled to make art; it is essential to their lives as a manifestation of their personal histories, societal and cultural forces, and an unfailing drive to express themselves. In Outsider Art in Texas: Lone Stars, author Jay Wehnert takes readers on a visually stunning excursion through the lives and work of eleven outsider artists from Texas, a state particularly rich in outsider artists of national and international renown.

An intimate glimpse into the lives and work of 34 self-taught artists. Over 400 color photos show a wide range of artwork that has been called Outsider, Visionary, and Folk. Whatever the labels, the work is passionate, religious, fantastic, heartrending, cryptic, naive, and compelling. What could be more exciting?

The art of self-taught artists - including visionaries, folk creators, spiritualists, recluses, the 'mad' and the socially marginalized - was once scorned by the art establishment. Among the first to value and collect such works was the French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-85), who coined the term Art Brut, or 'raw art'. He saw Art Brut as the purest form of creation because it was 'uncooked' by culture, touched by a raw nerve and deriving directly from the psyche. Some 50 years later, a wave of enthusiasm for contemporary folk art has gripped countries as far apart as India and the United States. John Maizels ties these disparate strands together, providing an extensive survey of the self-taught art of the twentieth century. Today a bewildering range of terminology has emerged, along with growing enthusiasm, for strains of creative expression outside the conventional art world. In Raw Creation, Maizels traces the history of the recognition and study of this art and examines different theories and definitions that have grown up around it. He provides detailed expositions of the work of individual artists ranging from such Art Brut masters as Adolf Wolfli and Aloise Corbaz, to such gifted American folk artists as Bill Traylor and Mose Tolliver. Devoting several chapters to large-scale visionary environments, Maizels takes a broad view, embracing Rodia towers in Watts, Los Angeles, the Palais Idéal in the South of France and Nek Chand's sculpture garden in north India. Raw Creationprovides an indispensable guide to self-taught art and a fascinating account of human creativity.