Creating Lives through Art – An Introduction to Outsider Art in China with Reflections on Outsider Art: Visionary Worlds and Trauma by Daniel Wojcik

A feature presentation of Outsider Art in China coordinated by Guo Haiping together with an exploration of Daniel Wojcik’s Outsider Art: Visionary Worlds and Trauma (2016). The introduction to the special section by Shaun McNiff places the Chinese art within a larger world context and discusses how...
Ausführliche Beschreibung

A feature presentation of Outsider Art in China coordinated by Guo Haiping together with an exploration of Daniel Wojcik’s Outsider Art: Visionary Worlds and Trauma (2016). The introduction to the special section by Shaun McNiff places the Chinese art within a larger world context and discusses how Wojcik’s book furthers an understanding and appreciation of these artistic expressions. Emphasis is given to how the term “outsider” is misleading since, as Wojcik and Haiping show, each artist creates within a particular social context. The work is viewed positively as persons creating themselves through artistic expression and contributing to their communities – an approach which is also fundamental to the East Asian Taoist, Confucian and Chan Buddhist traditions. Chen Shushan interviews Guo Haiping who gives a history of the development of the Nanjing Outsider Art Studio and the program’s emphasis on cultural ecology and mutual help. Illustrations of the artists’ work are shown. Shaun McNiff interviews Daniel Wojcik – exploring how his involvement with grassroots and vernacular art took shape through folklore studies. The Chinese art shown in this issue is related to the larger international community with illustrations of the work of Sabato Rodia, Tressa Prisbey, Howard Finster and Ionel Talpazan. Ausführliche Beschreibung