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Collecting Outsider Art with Thomas Arlen Wagner
May 27, 2017 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Title of Program: Collecting Outsider Art with Thomas Arlen Wagner
Date: Saturday, May 27th, 2017.
Time: 1:00-3:00pm.
Cost: FREE, however, please click HERE to register via Eventbrite or call our offices 216.721.9020
Location: Artists Archives of the Western Reserve. 1834 East 123rd Street. Cleveland, OH 44106.
Contact: 216.721.9020 or info@artistsarchives.org
As part of the new 2017 ART BITES series of Collecting Art Talks, the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve is proud to present Collecting Outsider Art with Thomas Arlen Wagner on Saturday, May 27th from 1:00-3:00pm in the AAWR main gallery, 1834 E. 123rd Street, Cleveland OH 44102.
Thomas Arlen Wagner, a Columbus resident, has been collecting Outsider art for over 30 years. His extensive private collection includes works from such artists as Howard Finster, Bessie Harvey, Chris Hipkiss and Mark Beyer of RAW Magazine & MTV’s Liquid Television fame. Beyer is perhaps best known for Amy + Jordan, the beleaguered protagonists of his dark & anxious graphic novel Agony as well as its accompanying compilations of comic strips.
In 2013, Wagner curated the first in-depth retrospective of Beyer’s work Mark Beyer: With/Without Text at OSU’s Urban Arts Space in Columbus. The exhibition featured more than 130 objects from Wagner’s personal collection, including 70 original drawings and paintings.
Work from Wagner’s collection has been loaned to institutions across the country and around the world, including the American Folk Art Museum in NYC, the Folk Art Society of America, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago & the Halle Saint Pierre Museum in Paris for 25 Years of Raw Vision, Raw Vision magazine’s 25th anniversary exhibition.
Wagner is currently curating an exhibition at the Mansfield Art Center entitled Outsider Or Insider? Art! Approximately half of the work displayed will be the creation of Outsider artists while the remaining work will be the product of trained artists, including Cleveland artists Scott Miller, George Kocar, Amy Casey and Archived Artist Douglas Max Utter. The exhibition will run from June 24th to July 23rd and an opening reception will be held on Saturday, June 24 from 7-9 PM.
In his presentation at the Artists Archives, Wagner will discuss the definition of Outsider art, its history and how he began collecting. Wagner will bring a dozen pieces of original Outsider Art from his private collection to illustrate his talk, including drawings, paintings and works in wood, steel and glass executed by local and internationally known artists.
Collecting Outsider Art with Thomas Arlen Wagner is FREE, however please register via Eventbrite on artistsarchives.org or by calling our offices, 216.721.9020. Join the conversation on Facebook!