None intentionally made work for the art market. For all, the process of making the work is of equal or greater importance than the finished piece. Not one of them makes work for a mainstream agenda. The criteria are: The artists are self-taught. We have chosen to curate this exhibition with certain criteria in mind. The word ‘outsider’ has indeed haunted them but it has rendered itself impotent by its inclusion of anything people consider eccentric. The artists in this exhibition were not known to the architects of the Art Brut temple. As attention began to be paid to idiosyncratic artists who were shapeshifters within their own cultures, or who came from non-European backgrounds and were forced to live in two realities, two cultures simultaneously, Dubuffet’s original concept became locked in time.
The field is an organic entity, always changing. He took the paintings back when the collection came to the United States. In fact, the only documented exposure really to African-American works were six paintings by the Haitian master Hector Hyppolite, which Andre Breton brought back to Paris and gave to the Compagnie L’Art Brut. At the time Dubuffet was putting together his magnificent collection the work from the Americas was little known. But in fact there was almost no American material in the original Art Brut collection. Any work by any artist in this exhibition might have been called Art Brut by Jean Dubuffet back in the day. It is not tied in any way to the faddism of mainstream art movements. It is powerful and relevant no matter when it is seen. Timeless is a key word for the great art in this field. ENIGMAS RAPT IN MYSTERIES: AMERICAN ART WITHOUT EPOCH