Internal Guidance Systems 2006-2008 USA Visionary Art Tour, Feb. 3 - 24

The term “outsider” once applied not only to artists creating work outside of traditional gallery/academic institutions, but also to artists who were outsiders themselves, marginalized by illiteracy, poverty, race, culture, mental illness or a combination of factors. Those differences resulted in a unique perspective, expressed in an unfamiliar fashion, with unusual tools and materials. Nowadays, “outsider” is practically a brand name, and the visionary qualities that inform the work of William Edmondson, Howard Finster or James Hampton are hard to find in the kitsch and “faux-k art” pretensions of artists who would adopt an outsider stance in the name of marketing. In February, TAG Art Gallery is set to host the Nashville stop of the Internal Guidance Systems 2006-2008 USA Visionary Art Tour. The Tour was created by Seattle artist Anne Grgich to highlight outsider artists selected from “a critical cross section from the vanguard of a new modern movement in visionary art.” Grgich specializes in multimedia portraits on canvas that make use of the aesthetic conventions associated with religious iconography. Yet it is in her more narrative work, especially her ink on paper drawings, where her inspiration truly does approach the visionary. —JOE NOLAN

Connecting Tags; Recovery, education, peer, tool, fan-the-flame, copower, prosynergy