Untutored, unrefined, passionate, expression placed above intellectual rigour: these are some of the ways people think about art brut and outsider art. Since Jean Dubuffet coined the term art brut in 1945 (Sulser 2026), its styles and approaches have themselves entered the mainstream canon. They surface in various guises, sometimes as praise, as in the late work of Philip Guston, sometimes as insult, as in the reflex response to Jackson Pollock. The argument ‘my eight-year-old could have done that’ opens a platform for a range of answers. They point to intentionality, innovation, reduction, immediacy and anti-authoritarianism. They point to a raft of exploratory places where aligning to someone else’s boundaries of the good does not define the destination.
Each answer puts a positive spin on darker tendencies in the culture, the ones that sort the approved from the suspect. The Nazis had a word for the suspect: entartete Kunst, degenerate art. That worldview asks art to be ‘uplifting and progressive’, to save us from a supposed slide into bestiality or, worse, backward thinking. This exhibition presents artists who once fitted that description, working inside a category that time and shifting values have since made safe. Yet at the same time it’s a road back to works on topics we currently feel uncomfortable with, and a reminder that those that label are often considered the oppressors of their age.
Exhibition notes:
Martine Lusardy, directrice de la Halle Saint Pierre
Anne-Françoise Rouche, directrice de La « S » Grand Atelier
Michel Thévoz, écrivain, historien de l’art
Du 11 septembre 2026 au 31 juillet 2027, la Halle Saint-Pierre invite La « S » Grand Atelier (Vielsalm, Belgique) à interagir avec le concept d’Art Brut ressourcé, développé par Michel Thévoz. Si « l’époque héroïque de l’Art Brut » est aujourd’hui révolue, l’Art Brut n’a perdu ni sa vitalité ni sa virulence. Les ateliers participatifs, dont La « S » Grand Atelier est un fer de lance, en représentent l’une des nouvelles sources au XXIe siècle.
Force est de constater, comme le souligne Michel Thévoz, que « l’époque héroïque de l’Art Brut et ses zones d’élection, psychiatriques, carcérales et spirites, sont aujourd’hui révolues ». Pour autant, poursuit l’auteur, l’art brut n’a perdu ni sa vitalité ni sa virulence. Notamment, les ateliers participatifs, dont La « S » Grand Atelier est un fer de lance, représentent l’une des nouvelles sources de l’art brut au XXIème siècle.
La Halle Saint-Pierre, incontournable lieu d’exposition, de rencontres et de réflexion, contribue activement à faire exister et évoluer l’Art Brut. Il offre ainsi l’opportunité à La « S » Grand Atelier non pas de rester dans la marge mais de faire de la marge un centre. L’exposition « Art Brut ressourcé » dévoile le potentiel de créativité et d’innovation ainsi que la puissance artistique collective d’une communauté de créateur.ices dont la plupart vit en situation de handicap mental.
La « S » Grand Atelier considère que chaque artiste, qu’iel soit considéré.e comme atypique ou non, peut apporter sa contribution à la culture et à la société. En mettant l’accent sur l’expérimentation artistique, la collaboration, le collectif, le dialogue, la réflexion et l’exigence artistique, La « S » Grand Atelier crée un environnement où la création peut s’épanouir librement, où les assignations (handicap v/s non-handicap) ne sont plus opérantes et où les frontières entre les mondes de l’art se déconstruisent.
Trans (Google)
From 11 September 2026 to 31 July 2027, the Halle Saint-Pierre invites La « S » Grand Atelier (Vielsalm, Belgium) to engage with the concept of Art Brut ressourcé (Art Brut renewed), developed by Michel Thévoz. While “the heroic era of Art Brut” is now behind us, Art Brut has lost neither its vitality nor its virulence. Participatory studios/workshops, of which La « S » Grand Atelier is a spearhead, represent one of its new sources in the 21st century.
It is clear, as Michel Thévoz points out, that “the heroic era of Art Brut and its chosen realms—psychiatric, carceral and spiritualist—are now behind us.” Even so, the author continues, Art Brut has lost neither its vitality nor its virulence. In particular, participatory workshops, of which La « S » Grand Atelier is a spearhead, represent one of the new sources of Art Brut in the 21st century.
The Halle Saint-Pierre, an essential venue for exhibition, encounter and reflection, actively helps bring Art Brut into being and move it forward. It thus offers La « S » Grand Atelier the opportunity not to remain on the margin but to make the margin a centre. The exhibition Art Brut ressourcé reveals the potential for creativity and innovation, as well as the collective artistic power, of a community of creators, most of whom live with an intellectual disability.
La « S » Grand Atelier holds that every artist—whether regarded as atypical or not—can make a contribution to culture and to society. By emphasising artistic experimentation, collaboration, the collective, dialogue, reflection and artistic rigour, La « S » Grand Atelier creates an environment where creation can flourish freely, where labels (disabled vs. non-disabled) no longer apply, and where the boundaries between the art worlds are deconstructed.
Images courtesy of heymann-associes.com & the artists © the artists
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle
