Wellcome Collection Presents Souzou: Outsider Art from Japan

Speaking recently, Shamita Sharmacharja, curator of the exhibition, described 'Souzou' as a Japanese word with no direct translation in English, but which has a dual meaning in Japanese: if written one way – 創造 – , it means creation, and another – 想像 – imagination. Both interpretations refer to the creative force through which new ideas take form.

Shamita also said ″Outsider art is a term that is mainly used in English speaking countries. It's used to describe the work of self-taught artists who seem to be in some way on the edges of society.″ Because of various diagnoses the artists featured in this exhibition either live in or attend social welfare occupational therapy facilities. They produce work purely for the sake of creation with no particuar audience or market in mind.

The term 'Outsider Art' was originally coined in 1972 by British writer Roger Cardinal. Cardinal took Jean Dubuffet's term 'Art Brut', literally meaning 'raw art', as the starting point for the term 'Outsider Art'. In 1945 Dubuffet described 'Art Brut' as ″springing from pure invention and in no way based, as cultural art constantly is, on chameleon- or parrot-like processes″.⁽¹⁾ Outsider Art is usually the product of people with no formal training who might be criminals, psychiatric patients, eccentrics, spiritualists and visionaries, are often described as being on the edge of society.

Making considers the repeated use of unusual materials. For example Shota Katsube (b. 1991) uses a type of wire tie used to tie bin bags, available from every grocery store. They come in a variety of bright colours which he has put to good use in his army of some 300 miniature action heroes. Shota started to make his heroes when he was ten years old. He's now 23 and his figures have gradually become more and more complex. Apparently he does have far more elaborate works at home which he doesn't allow to travel.

Items featured in Culture include complex representations of a world beyond the confines of the mind, challanging commonly held assumptions that Outsider Art is only reflective of the inner mind. Daisuke Kibushi’s (b. 1969) paintings of postwar film posters, reproduced from memory, show an accute awareness of what's going on in the world.

Possibility showcases works such as Norimitsu Kokubo’s (b. 1995) intensely detailed cartographies, such as Shanghai Disneyland of the Future (2009), which is scheduled to open in December 2015. Norimitsu, the youngest artist int he show, gets his information online and draws places as he imagines they will be. The exhibition features a number of his drawings including a ten-metre map of the world, still a work in progress. He's been working on this piece since 2011 and after the exhibition it will be returned to him so that he can complete it.

Souzhou: Outsider Art from Japan has been jointly organised by Het Dolhuys, the Museum of Psychiatry in Haarlem (the Netherlands) and the Social Welfare Organisation Aiseikai (Tokyo). The exhibition, together with a comprehensive programme of public events, can be enjoyed until 30th June 2013. Further details can be found at the Wellcome Collection.

Sources:

1. Chilvers, I., Glaves-Smith, J., Oxford Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art, Oxford University Press 2009.

2. Hata, Y., Inoue, T., Kudo, K., Murai, M., Kahihara, R. Outsider Art from Japan, Museum Het Dolhuys, Haarlem, wbooks, 2012