RENEGADES: Outsider Art travels to
Gold Coast City Gallery
OPENING EVENT:
Friday 21 March 2014
3.00 - 5.00pm
Celebrate the opening of Renegades:
Outsider Art with Ingrid Hoffman Director,
KickArts Contemporary Arts and Sue Roff
Executive Director, Arts Project Australia in
conversation with exhibiting artist Peter
Drewett and local service providers.
Image: Jodie NOBLE, Lindy 2010. Courtesy Arts Project Australia.
Renegades: Outsider Art is an exuberant exhibition of Outsider Art* touring Australia’s east
coast, including Gold Coast City Gallery from 22 March to 27 April 2014.
A KickArts Contemporary Arts initiative, Renegades features outsider art, an emerging genre in
Australia that describes art forms derived from improbable or marginal places and arising from raw
impulse and honest urges of the heart.
According to KickArts Director, Ingrid Hoffmann, the exhibition ‘features a kaleidoscope of images and
artists’ stories, coming from makers with intellectual disabilities, others in community care centres,
psychiatric settings, outer geographical reaches and, simply from free spirits. We show how ‘unlikely’
makers, mostly lacking academic instruction, are remarkably creative without connections to
commercial or public art galleries, marketing, critics or art schools,’ she said.
The Franco-Australian curator of Renegades, Camille Masson-Talansier, says that while many of the
featured artists are ‘unknown’ there are some who have gained considerable renowned for their works
that are exhibited, bought and collected nationally.
‘It is also important to add that collectors and admirers of this genre have discovered the same studios
from which the majority of works in this exhibition have been sourced. These include Arts Project
Australia in Melbourne, Insideout Studio at Macquarie Hospital in Sydney, Bindi Art in Alice Springs,
Ngaruwanajirri Artists on Bathurst Island, Concord Mental Health Unit in Sydney, and the geographical
outsiders of Erub Erwer Meta in the eastern waters of the remote Torres Strait.’
In forming the exhibition, Ms Masson-Talansier said the generosity of artists, studios, collectors and
outsider art specialists stirred her deeply. ‘All the works selected emit raw and real energy, or freedom
of spirit. In particular I would like to recognise artist Bernard Vartuli** for providing the inspiration that
nurtured and helped realise my vision for Renegades. His philosophy remains at the heart of our quest;
“Knowledge and understanding have no limit to their depth, making their pursuit an eternal adventure”.’
The full catalogue of works and a selection of essays can be viewed online at www.renegades.org.au
*About Outsider Art
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 Debuffet to describe art created
outside the boundaries of official culture. Drawing
from this, KickArts Contemporary Arts have styled
the descriptor ‘Outsider Art’ as a dynamic label.
**About Bernard Vartuli
Bernard Vartuli is a Sydney-based abstract artist
whose talent for visual art arose from adversity.
Vartuli was an ambitious aircraft mechanic when an
autoimmune disease and subsequent breakdown in
mid-2010 meant he needed hospitalisation. With
paints and brushes to hand in the hospital’s activity
room, Vartuli discovered the healing, restorative
qualities of visual art that helped him deal with his
depression, mood swings and risk of self-harm.
Since then Vartuli has found a market for his acrylic
on canvas work, which has turned a natural affinity
into a way of life.
Image: Anthony MANNIX, Portrait of Itor Pluravit
2006. Courtesy the artist.
About KickArts
KickArts Contemporary Arts is a leading visual arts
organisation in regional Queensland and one of the
most innovative in the state. Based in Cairns, with a
demographic reach encompassing Far North
Queensland and extending into remote
communities of Cape York and Zenadh Kes (Torres
Strait), KickArts facilitates and promotes
contemporary art, enriching the cultural lives of
northern Australians and the 1.5 million annual
visitors to Cairns. KickArts’ activities have become
a recognised standard and a base for local and
transitory tourist communities to engage with the
lively contemporary visual culture of far northern
Australia. www.kickarts.org.au
Image: Catherine STAUGHTON, Love kitten massage face
(Sim Luttin) 2010; Courtesy Arts Project Australia.
For more information:
GOLD COAST CITY GALLERY
The Arts Centre Gold Coast , 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, Qld;
www.theartscentregc.com.au
Open Weekdays 10.00am – 5.00pm Weekends 11.00am – 5.00pm
Media Enquiries: Jodi Ferrari, Public Programs Coordinator - [email protected]