As “outsider art” gains attention in international exhibitions, artists and art-lovers without formal training from China see new opportunities for self-expression
Feng Cangyu wanted to become an insider. In 2007, the self-taught artist (and former farmer, steelworker, clothes-seller, and small-time antiques trader), then 43 years old, felt pretty good about the experimental ink landscapes he had been tinkering with for three years, so he marched down to Beijing to knock on some gallery doors.
“They asked me, ‘What association are you part of?’ I said, ‘None,’” Feng recalls on a video call with TWOC, “and they said, ‘Then we don’t want to look at [your work].’”
A decade later in 2017, Feng, who is from Fushun, Liaoning province, found himself invited to the 7th Biennale Hors Normes in Lyon, France, to present his works—which have grown increasingly wild, often featuring ghostly acrylic animals and human figures held together by prickly lines, and made on found scrap paper or fabrics. He was also asked to paint a mural for the event. But this wasn’t intended to make Feng an art world insider, either, as the biennale is a fair dedicated to “outsider art.”
Outsider art is commonly understood as “work by artists who have not had any formal training, and who have never been part of the art establishment,” writes Cara Zimmerman, head of outsider art at Christie’s, in an article published on the company’s website. “Some of those described as outsiders have come from difficult circumstances, having experienced poverty or mental illness.”
But this category has been slowly making its way “inside”: The fact that there’s a department and specialists devoted to it at Christie’s, one of the world’s leading auction houses, is perhaps proof that the art world is developing systems for exhibiting, collecting, and studying this type of art.
Outside Looking In is a story from our issue, “Promised Land.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine.
Siyi is the former Culture Editor at The World of Chinese. She writes about arts, culture, and society, and is ever-curious about the minds, hearts, and souls inside all of these spheres. She is now a freelance writer with additional work experience in independent filmmaking and the field of education.
