This unique group of contemporary American Outsider artists was discovered through the HAI Arts Workshop Program, which brings professional artists to work with mentally ill adults in residences and day programs throughout New York City. These professional artists know how to encourage unique artistic expression without imposing their own values, those of the mainstream art world or Outsider aficionados.
The fifteen artists presented in this exhibit have emerged as the most gifted individuals from the HAI workshop program. Each developed a personal vision creating a notable body of work over time. Their unique styles for expressing themselves through their art is drawn from within.
HAI began preserving their work through the insight of the professional artists who discovered this raw talent. These professional artists found out that the Outsiders at first did not value the work as art. They were also unable to preserve their own work. Once the Outsiders themselves figured out that their work was valuable, they requested that HAI assist them in preserving, exhibiting and selling it.
HAI workshop participants, numbering in the thousands since the program’s beginnings over twenty years ago, enjoy learning to draw and paint. Some more than others worked under the guidance of HAI’s professional artists. Those others, more talented, are self-directed. Professional artists, like Andrew Castrucci, Sarah Draney, Frank Palazzolo and Diane Sbano, are sensitive to the difference. These professional artists devote themselves to enabling Outsiders to express themselves by creating art. They have the sensitivity and take the time to encourage talented individuals to explore and express their own ideas and world through art. The proof is in the diversity and originality of the conceptions of the Outsiders. Frank Palazzolo has been with the HAI workshop program for well over ten years. He also curates exhibits of the Outsider Artists of HAI. He says, "with this group of artists, my role has been to offer them a sense of independence and opportunities to articulate their views of the world. Of those I have worked with, Irene Phillips and Rodney Thornblad are the clearest examples of what I mean. They have run the furthest and made the most of my and HAI's role in the Outsider community."
For the few true artists who lay honest claim to the designation as "Outsider artist," HAI is devoted to "bringing their work to appropriate venues. These are the Outsider Artists of HAI that demonstrate compelling similarities to the traditions of the early European Outsider artists. Their style also incorporates influences from contemporary American culture. Similarities to the European Outsider Artists include text on paintings, segmentation of pages, idiosyncratic figure-ground relationship, fore-shortening and transparency of figures, dense patterning, wild visages, meticulous numbering systems, and repetitive themes ofideas and images. The intriguing dichotomy of paintings by the Outsider Artists of HAI is seen in the impact of American culture through the artists’ choices of subjects, such as icons of pop culture like Marilyn Monroe and Bugs Bunny, and in the uniquely American characteristics - upbeat, brash, broadly drawn, brightly colored, boldness of their work.
While Outsider Artists of HAI have achieved justifiable recognition as a group of legitimate Outsiders, many happily are reaching beyond the boundaries of HAI by gaining stature and visibility as individual artists. Their paintings stand tall with the best of Outsider art.
The fifteen artists presented in this exhibit have emerged as the most gifted individuals from the HAI workshop program. Each developed a personal vision creating a notable body of work over time. Their unique styles for expressing themselves through their art is drawn from within.
HAI began preserving their work through the insight of the professional artists who discovered this raw talent. These professional artists found out that the Outsiders at first did not value the work as art. They were also unable to preserve their own work. Once the Outsiders themselves figured out that their work was valuable, they requested that HAI assist them in preserving, exhibiting and selling it.
HAI workshop participants, numbering in the thousands since the program’s beginnings over twenty years ago, enjoy learning to draw and paint. Some more than others worked under the guidance of HAI’s professional artists. Those others, more talented, are self-directed. Professional artists, like Andrew Castrucci, Sarah Draney, Frank Palazzolo and Diane Sbano, are sensitive to the difference. These professional artists devote themselves to enabling Outsiders to express themselves by creating art. They have the sensitivity and take the time to encourage talented individuals to explore and express their own ideas and world through art. The proof is in the diversity and originality of the conceptions of the Outsiders. Frank Palazzolo has been with the HAI workshop program for well over ten years. He also curates exhibits of the Outsider Artists of HAI. He says, "with this group of artists, my role has been to offer them a sense of independence and opportunities to articulate their views of the world. Of those I have worked with, Irene Phillips and Rodney Thornblad are the clearest examples of what I mean. They have run the furthest and made the most of my and HAI's role in the Outsider community."
For the few true artists who lay honest claim to the designation as "Outsider artist," HAI is devoted to "bringing their work to appropriate venues. These are the Outsider Artists of HAI that demonstrate compelling similarities to the traditions of the early European Outsider artists. Their style also incorporates influences from contemporary American culture. Similarities to the European Outsider Artists include text on paintings, segmentation of pages, idiosyncratic figure-ground relationship, fore-shortening and transparency of figures, dense patterning, wild visages, meticulous numbering systems, and repetitive themes ofideas and images. The intriguing dichotomy of paintings by the Outsider Artists of HAI is seen in the impact of American culture through the artists’ choices of subjects, such as icons of pop culture like Marilyn Monroe and Bugs Bunny, and in the uniquely American characteristics - upbeat, brash, broadly drawn, brightly colored, boldness of their work.
While Outsider Artists of HAI have achieved justifiable recognition as a group of legitimate Outsiders, many happily are reaching beyond the boundaries of HAI by gaining stature and visibility as individual artists. Their paintings stand tall with the best of Outsider art.
