Wandering in the Wilderness: Outsider Art from the Collection at NAEMI

Saturday, May 7th, 2022, 5PM – 9PM

NAEMI, in collaboration with Mad Arts, is proud to announce an exhibition featuring exclusive art from the permanent collection at NAEMI (National Arts Exhibitions of the Mentally Ill, Inc).

The exhibition will include internationally recognized names in Cuban Outsider Art, such as Jorge Alberto Cadi “El Buzo”, Misleidys Castillo Pedroso, and Rigoberto Casorla (Rigo), along with other well-recognized creators like Echo MacCallister, Gary Brewer, Ramon Losa, Isaac Crespo, Damián Valdés Dilla, and for the first time in the United States, Fernando Bachero. Artists from the USA, Spain, Cuba, and Paraguay will be represented in this exhibition.

“Outsider art” refers to incredibly unique works produced by artists who haven’t been formally trained in art, work outside the artistic mainstream, and hold unconventional world views. Sometimes called Art Brut, outsider art finds its origins in the collections of 19th-century European psychiatric hospitals where doctors analyzed the work clinically. Many but not all outsider artists suffer from mental illnesses, with social isolation and traumatic experiences often informing the works displayed.

NAEMI is dedicated to discovering, studying, promoting, exhibiting, and preserving the works of artists struggling with mental illnesses throughout the world. Partnering with Mad Arts will help NAEMI to continue its work and achieve its objectives: the creative development of artists recovering from mental illnesses, advocacy for the arts and people with disabilities, support for the establishment of exhibition venues, enhancement of self-image and self-esteem, and promotion of vocational training and career development to teach artists with disabilities to become self-supporting through commercial galleries.

MAD Arts is a new initiative within the MAD agency that was created to provide a playground for art and artmaking. Founded in 2016 by Marc Aptakin, the MAD studios and galleries are driven by the continuous desire to explore and strengthen the cultural and artistic significance of its creative community. The studio provides artists with a workshop in which to facilitate their initial ideas, offering its tools, education, and MAD’s agency expertise and resources to help aspiring and established creatives achieve their vision.

Free and open to the public.

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