Terry Castle on Outside Art

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Oh my was this 07.28.11 essay in the LRB on outsider art, collecting it, and trying to answer the ambiguity of its commoditization or commoditization of its ambiguity a fantastic read. Unfortunately, it's subscriber-only (but if you ask nicely...)

I had never heard of Henry Darger, Martín Ramírez, Adolf Wölfli, et al, but damn am I glad I did, and Castle raises enough questions about contemporary art, the nature of meaning, and intentionality vis-a-vis a hypothetical audience to keep one busy for months.