MARION HARRIS: THE ART OF COLLECTING
Art and objects span centuries and geography ranging in purpose from pleasure to prosperity. Outsider artists can transcend all categories by ignoring classic definitions and replacing them with the obsessive need to produce without any formal art knowledge and no desire, in any case, to follow its rules. Compelled to create while untrained to do so. And finding a way to tell their story.
The strongest and most appealing examples of this unruly cousin to traditional art often focus on the hidden narrative, the inner force giving us insight into the back story behind the image.
Artists we represent who are emblematic of this philosophy -where fantasy and reality overlap- all in very different ways and whose work we will be showing at The Outsider Fair are Morton Bartlett, The Connor Brothers and Daniel Rohrig. In addition, Joanathan Bessaci’s Memory Maps, bordering on actual and invented memory and Jordan Laura MacLachlan’s invented scenarios will be available.
As perhaps best illustrated by The Connor Brothers in their Classics Series: THE TRUTH. YOU COULDN”T MAKE IT UP, we are privy to self-taught artists’ eccentric and honest storytelling techniques. The Connor Brothers, entered the art scene as fictitious twins in 2010, maintaining their anonymity with shows in Australia and Los Angeles until 2014. Shrouded in mystery and surrounded by gossip, they were introduced to a New York audience at The Outsider Fair by Marion Harris in a sell-out show. Sold without true attribution, buyers were given advance notice that the the artists would be revealed in an upcoming article in London’s Telegraph magazine. Since exposing their true identity, The Connor Brothers have politicized their work, joining the stable of Banksy and similar, supporting philanthropic causes.
