Outsider Art: The Collection of Victor Keen

White Gallery | October 5, 2019 - January 12, 2020

About the exhibition:

Outsider art, or the work of self-taught artists, has been fascinating viewers for the past hundred years. Raw and untrained, these artists often realize their ideas on found materials using makeshift methods that lead to profound works of art. Well-known Outsider artists such as Adolf Wölfli, Martín Ramírez, Lee Godie, and George Widener will be on display during this exhibit.

Hosting the Victor Keen collection at the Arts Center is an outstanding opportunity to share with our visitors and community a collection that pushes the boundaries of art and facilitates a native son to share his treasures with Pueblo. 

"Still, for convenience, I refer to “outsider” art and “outsider” artists, as a shorthand with the understanding that others may favor other descriptives. Outsider art is not a “school” of art; what sets it apart is the circumstances and characteristics of the artist. The biographical narrative of every outsider artist is unique, but most share one or more of the following: no or only limited art training; living with mental or physical infirmities; poverty; educational deficit; being held back by racial discrimination. Most did not create their art for others, and any made no effort to share the work with anyone; some even affirmatively withheld it from the view of others." -Victor Keen

“When it comes to self-taught and outsider art, there is a special barrier to a full embrace by head and heart. In the face of this supposedly raw art, we are often exhorted with evangelical force to renounce analysis and lay aside what we carry of knowledge and experience—what the artist Jean Dubuffet called asphyxiating culture—in favor of genuine response.” –Lyle Rexer

IN THE NEWS:
A collector’s vision: Pueblo native brings collection of ‘outsider art’ home

Exhibition Sponsors:

Victor F. Keen and Jeanne Ruddy | The Bethany Mission Gallery