Bert Stabler’s rather confusing article on Intuit’s current exhibition, “Revelation! The Quilts of Marie ‘Big Mama’ Roseman,” is rife with assumptions and innuendos [“The Mystical Other,” June 2]. While I am employed at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in the capacity of collections and exhibitions coordinator, the following is my own personal critique of Stabler’s article and in no way does it reflect the views or opinions of the organization.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
That Stabler equates the rise of outsider art in Chicago with the demise of a contemporary art scene must be a fiercely personal account of the very fickle situation that confronts many practicing artists today, but is nonetheless untrue. Any perusal of Gallery News shows the overwhelming number of venues for contemporary art in Chicago compared with only three galleries occasionally exhibiting self-taught and outsider art besides the nonprofit organization Intuit. Chicago collectors of this material are small in number compared to contemporary-art collectors, but it is their passion for the work that makes Chicago important in the field.
Why, in fact, was and is the city of Chicago a capital for discussing, disseminating, and exhibiting works of art by self-taught/outsiders? What were and are the conditions of possibility for such activity in one metropolitan city? What are the issues contemporary artists are facing today in Chicago? Such questions are not easy to answer. Chicago’s art history is incredibly rich and complex, and one that deserves further research and study rather than glib assumptions.
The salient feature about Stabler’s article is that Roseman’s work can be a catalyst for analyzing the strife that, according to the author, afflicts practicing artists in Chicago.
