A Gallery for the Outlaw: Archiving the Art of the Iconoclast
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A Gallery for the Outlaw: Archiving the Art of the Iconoclast Caitlin M.J. Pollock and Andrea L. Battleground The term “outsider art” was first developed by art of the mainstream” and go on to list art forms that critic Roger Cardinal in the 1970s. By using outsid- have come to be welcomed into the artistic fold such er art, Cardinal was expanding the art brut, a name as photography, modern dance, hip-hop music, and that was created to describe the art of psychiatric pa- site specific performance art.3 A genre or artist labeled tients.1 In the introduction of the book Outsider Art: as outsider art, several decades later may be consid- Contesting Boundaries in Contemporary Culture, edi- ered part of the canon and the works of art items wor- tors Vera L. Zolberg and Joni Maya Cherbo outline thy of collection. how Cardinal “expanded the notion of outsiders be- The duality and exoticization the concept of yond mental patients to include a variety of persons outsider art presents often becomes problematic, as making art outside the mainstream”2 by introducing does its amorphous definition. In an attempt to re- “outsider art” as a concept. While this was certainly a sist othering marginalized artists and art forms, the positive development toward diversifying the genres authors of this paper have strived to develop a less studied in the art canon, it also designates a certain complicated and more nuanced label for the works of group of artists as being “outside” or different from an art described here: outlaw art. Often artists of outlaw established set. Using the label “outsider art” suggests art represent a larger marginalized artist community. a dichotomy: either one is an insider artist or an out- With their work, they adopt guerilla tactics in their sider artist. In what has proven to be a common result struggle to give voice to voiceless and often—but not of “otherness” and the process of “othering,” the art- necessarily—seek to be a catalyst for social justice and world establishment has fetishized and exoticized the the elimination of racism, sexism, classism, ageism, “other.” Zolberg and Cherbo define insider art as “a homophobia, and/or transphobia. A marginalized or canon in which artistic products and their makers are alienated art community often mirrors the similarly evaluated, along with a body of work that represents marginalized groups of society that have been divided those standards.” The art world, however, does not ex- by lines of gender, race, sexuality, class, or age. ist in a reality that black and white. It is a world of One of the most notable recognized examples of gray, and the outsider-art classification is a fluid cat- this phenomenon is the art collective, Guerrilla Girls, egory. Artists or art forms designated as outsider art an anonymous group of feminists who use the visual often move into being considered insider art through arts to expose gender and racial bias in the art world. exposure, hype, trends, and other measures of pub- Guerrilla Girls takes its mission of guerilla art seriously, licity. Zolberg and Cherbo point out that “genres we as reflected not only in the name, but also the gorilla now accept unquestionably as art were once not part masks they wear while struggling against the patriar- Caitlin M.J. Pollock, MSLIS is MA Candidate, Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities at Loyola University Chi- cago, e-mail: [email protected]; Andrea Battleground, MLIS is Assistant Web Content Editor, The Onion, e-mail: [email protected] 240 A Gallery for the Outlaw 241 chal machinations so prevalent in the art word. In the ums and galleries… They look for the rundown essay, “The Feminist Roots of Guerrilla Girls’ Creative building with the paint chipping off, with weeds Complaining,” DePaul University’s Joanna Gardner- growing out of the sidewalk. Their motivation is Huggett argues that “[d]onning gorilla masks, appro- to beautify these buildings and to create some- priating the names of dead female artists, and embrac- thing truly special. They believe that the art ing the absurd and satire, the Guerrilla Girls disrupted adds something to the city, creating an energy the old order and established new voices of authority that enhances an eroding building.8 that demanded a visibility for women artists and artists of color.”4 First established in 1985, the Guerrilla Girls Outlaw artists and their artistic endeavors serve were quick to embrace graffiti and street art. Graffiti a greater purpose of redesigning and brightening the was seen as a way to claim public spaces and provoke a gray, brick-and-mortar, urban landscape. Art in the discourse when they felt shut out of traditional exhibi- urban public space rejects the predetermined con- tion spaces such as galleries and museums.5 This public cepts of what is legal, what is art, and what is an ap- illustration of their struggle against racism and sexism propriate exhibition space. Outlaw artists adhere to a joined works by other “political transgressors, outsid- more utopian, inclusive mission: art is free and art is ers, and ‘culture jammers,’ all of whom were railing, in for everyone. their own way, against ‘The Man.’”6 For these culture This paper will examine the opportunities, chal- jammers, marring antiseptic public property with opin- lenges, and cultural imperative inherent in attempting ions and messages that clash with the status quo was a to document and preserve street art. victimless crime that held immense power because it forced people to look, to consider, and to question. A Historical Examination of Street Art By adopting a similar philosophy from “culture One of the most prevalent examples of outlaw art is jammers” such as the Guerrilla Girls, it becomes pos- street art. Though freight monikers and creative box- sible to identify outlaw art as a term used to describe car drawings have been documented in the United artistic expressions that push societal norms, remove art States as early as the late-19th century, perhaps the from the gallery or museum, and place it in the everyday. first instance of an item of graffiti with cultural rel- The iconoclastic nature of such artwork often precludes evance in the modern historical era was the “Kilroy collection and documentation due to cultural standards was here” slogan. It first appeared on tanks at the Fore or illegality. Outlaw art has a Robin Hood connotation River Shipyard in Boston during World War II. Writ- that implies artists are giving to the poor what the rich ing these words with chalk or grease crayon was the have in multitude. In this case, the gift is a voice, a point strategy rate-setter James Kilroy employed to mark of view, and a public space—regardless of legality— the tanks he had inspected. Soon the phrase began where a conversation about how the “others” live may to appear on tanks before Kilroy had had the chance take place. Outlaw art embraces the sentiment of “free to inspect them. Though the first artist to place the art for the people” and eschews the assumed exclusiv- sketch of a man peering over a wall above the slogan ity of the museum/gallery, which loftily judges what is has never been identified, before the war’s end the im- or is not art by the very act of collecting and acquiring. age and slogan appeared on tanks aboard thousands Outlaw art, and consequently outlaw artists, also invoke of battleships, cruisers, and aircraft carriers, becom- the myth of the “outsider artist” and his or her crusade ing a sort of comforting coded message among sol- to spread social justice through art. The outlaw artist is diers who were far away from home. The image even- often described in the shadow of “the daring formalist tually made its way onto signs, war bonds, and other rebellion accompanied by flamboyant gestures of social war-related materials across the United States. After defiance… artist poets consumed by their lonely cre- Rosie the Riveter, “Kilroy was here,” was one of the ative quests.”7 Marc and Sara Schiller, street art collec- most iconic images associated with World War II par- tors and founders of the Wooster Collective, embrace aphernalia.9 the archetype of the outsider artists, stating: Chronologically, the next notable cultural graffiti in the United States is associated with neighborhood They give away their art for free, bucking the gang activity, when groups marked the boundaries of pressures of commerce that govern both muse- their neighborhoods by scribbling on walls and streets. April 10–13, 2013, Indianapolis, IN 242 Caitlin M.J. Pollock and Andrea L. Battleground This has been documented as occurring as early as the The Relevancy and Legitimization of Street Art 1850s in Philadelphia and was considered to be purely Street art has become increasingly relevant and ac- functional, without artistic aspirations. More than a cepted as a true art form, with an established aesthet- century later, this city also served as one of the first ic, a provocative ethos, an effect on culture. Graffiti American cities to display artful graffiti as well. In the has frequently been condemned as puerile and ille- mid-1960s, a group of Philadelphia teenagers became gal, most notably in the 1980s when New York City inspired by the gang graffiti around their neighbor- Mayor Edward Koch began a campaign to rid the city hoods and began coming up with increasingly artistic of spray paint tags off of public property such as sub- methods of writing their nicknames on subway adver- way cars.13 Such a move only further pushed street tisements they encountered on the way to and from art the realm of the “outsider art.” Yet in the follow- home.