'Remarkable' free Vancouver festival showcases 'outsider' art

Dozens of "outsider" artists are bringing their work to the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre in Yaletown this weekend.

The Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival is a free event that aims to showcase "the work of visual artists and performers outside of mainstream art institutions."

Pierre Leichner – a board member for the Community Arts Council of Vancouver, which provides funding and logistical support for the festival – says the concept of "outsider art" is better known and supported in Europe than in North America.

"This is the eighth annual outsider art festival, and that is quite remarkable because we are the first – and only – festival with outsider artists in Canada," Leichner said.

To illustrate the distinction between "outsider" and "insider" artists, he cited two famous examples.

Vincent Van Gogh, whose art was not appreciated in his lifetime and died in poverty, is an example of an outsider artist, Leichner said. Michelangelo, who received funding and support from the Catholic Church and other patrons throughout his life, is an example of an insider artist.

"Obviously, the situation is different now, but there are still some divides," he said. "There are still insiders and outsiders. Today's insiders tend to be artists that get picked up early in their career and early in their career they start to have the support of galleries – both public and commercial galleries – art dealers, sometimes art councils, and even the schools sometimes. So, early on, they are able to have the funds to work full time at their art practice, develop it, and make a reasonable living at it."

Contemporary outsider artists generally face barriers to exhibiting and selling their work, whether those barriers are social, economic, political, or – in the case of artists with disabilities – physical or mental, Leichner said.

The artists featured in this weekend's festival are people from the Lower Mainland who face such barriers in their chosen medium.

Leichner said this year's festival includes roughly 40 visual artists and 16 performing artists, with workshops and performances scheduled throughout the weekend.

More information about the festival, including a schedule of events and a list of participating artists, can be found on the VOAF website.