Mermaid by Manuel Lanca Bonifacio© The artist / Outside In
The project, which was set up in 2006 by Pallant House Gallery to provide opportunities for artists who see themselves as facing a barrier to the art world, has just opened its major exhibition of 80 selected works at the Chichester gallery.
Six prize-winning works were chosen from the 80 by a panel of judges, which included Art Historian Roger Cardinal - who first coined the term Outsider Art - and performance artist Bobby Baker who spent years battling mental illness, which she recorded in private drawings and performances.
Musicians by Michelle Roberts; The ones that I've been saving to make a feather bed by Kate Bradbury; Fukushima Conjuration by Matthew Sergison-Main; Woman by Nigel Kingsbury; Cosmic Hat by Phil Baird and Mermaid by Manuel Lanca Bonifacio were named as the winning entries at a prize-giving ceremony at the Gallery on Thursday October 25.
Stefan van Ray, the outgoing Pallant House Director whose support and vision has been integral to the success of the project, said he was “really excited” about Outside In going national for the first time.
“As a judge I was dreading the fact that I had to pick out a few though actually we reached a consensus quite quickly," he added. "I know it is a cliché but everyone in this show is a winner and I am proud that we show this wealth of talent in the main exhibition spaces of the Gallery.”
Each award-winner will be offered the opportunity to have a solo exhibition at Pallant House Gallery in 2013 and 2014.
Outside In: National is being shown as part of a season of exhibitions over the next few months at Pallant House celebrating non-traditional creativity. They include the first major solo show in a UK public Gallery for nearly 50 years of the father of Art Brut, Jean Dubuffet (until February 3 2013) and work by the self-taught artist Pat Douthwaite (until February 3 2013).
More Outside In 2012 winners:
Woman by Nigel Kingsbury© the artist / Outside In
The ones that I've been saving to make a feather bed by Kate Bradbury© the artist / Outside In
Fukushima Conjuration by Matthew Sergison-Main© the artist / Outside In
Musicians by Michelle Roberts© the artist / Outside In
Cosmic Hat by Phil Baird© the artist / Outside In
- Find out more about Outside In at: www.outsidein.org.uk
