Front of artwork from different angle. Placement of artwork is optional. Front of artwork. Back of artwork. Front of artwork from different angle. Placement of artwork is optional.

Outsider Painting by Rigu Elena, Romania

Authentic Outsider Painting on Found Wood by Rigu Elena, Romania. Grandmother of the artist Theo Pelmus, Romania.

Watercolor & found paints on found piece of wood. Double sided. One side in great condition. The verso painting has cracking in the wood, which adds to the character. Unique & beautiful piece. Measures 17.5″ width x 16″ height x 1/4″ depth. Inscribed/signed on edge of the painting: ‘RIGU ELENA / PLOIESTI / ROMANIA / 2005’.

$400.

The term “Outsider Art” has been kicked around, shifted, made into movies and possibly become meaningless since it was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as a kind of English equivalent to the French term, Art Brut. Generally thought of as art operating outside of the artistic fashion of the day, it has variously been interpreted to include (or exclude): art made by children, art made by the insane, art by untrained artists or by artists who don’t live in major cities, art by alien abductees, art by the incarcerated, etc. 

 
 
Rigu Elena lives in Ploisti, Romania, though she grew up in the small town of Poenii Vechi. She has raised seven children, several of whom are artists. She is now 83 years old and started making art only seven years ago. According to her grandson, artist Theo Pelmus, she has more pieces of art in her house than any other kind of object. Her paintings and drawings vary greatly in style and in materials. There are paintings on boxes, cupboard doors, styrofoam; subjects range from flowers to winged monsters. (Update, Rigu has since sadly passed away).
 

Ploiești (; older spelling: Ploești) is the county seat of Prahova County and lies in the historical region of Wallachia in Romania. The city is located north of Bucharest. The area of the city is around 60 km. It borders the Blejoi village in the north, Bărcănești and Brazi villages in the south, Târgșoru Vechi in the west and Bucov village in the east. Ploiești has direct access to the Prahova Valley, one of the most important alpine tourism areas in Romania.

Ploiești is an important transport hub, linking Bucharest with Transylvania and Moldavia. According to the 2011 Romanian census, there were 201,226 people living within the city of Ploiești, making it the 9th most populous city in Romania.

– See more at: http://findwords.info/term/ploiesti#sthash.XOGW4ia9.dpuf

Statement:  by Theodor Pelmus, her grandson

“Rigu Elena is my grandmother. She is Romanian . I like to call her MAMAIE.
Making art without the selfish purpose of becoming a big artist is the realm of those outsider artists from which category my grandmother/ MAMAIE is part of. When I had a conversation with my MAMAIE about some of her works I realized that there is a very genuine approach for arts. I don’t even know if she thinks about her paintings or drawings as works of art. She just makes them as another way of communicating her feelings and thoughts. Then it can be called art, the big word ART.
When I first saw my grandmother’s works I felt that all my years of art education didn’t teach me what I saw in those paintings and drawing: the power of unconscious
experimentation. There is something that art educational institutions can not teach a student. This power of experimentation can be found only in oneself by working without a drive that leads all of us as “professional artist”: to become alive superstar artist like Andy Warhol or Joseph Beuys.
Making art like an anonymous artist: this is the real power of an artist that has talent and something to say…and saying “I don’t believe in paintings”, “I don’t believe in drawings”, “I don’t believe in big ART”, “I even don’t believe in myself”. This is what I felt when I first saw my grandmother/ MAMAIE’s paintings and drawings.
Seeing her works I realized that out there are so many pure artists that die unknown everyday, and just a few have the chance of a Henry Darger after-death-re-discovery

 

What is Outsider Art:

Outsider Art is art by self-taught or naïve art makers. Typically, those labeled as outsider artists have little or no contact with the mainstream art world or art institutions. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates extreme mental states, unconventional ideas, or elaborate fantasy worlds.

The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut (French: [aʁ bʁyt], “raw art” or “rough art”), a label created by French artistJean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by those on the outside of the established art scene, using as examples psychiatric hospital patients and children.

Outsider art has emerged as a successful art marketing category; an annual Outsider Art Fair has taken place in New York since 1993, and there are at least two regularly published journals dedicated to the subject. The term is sometimes misapplied as a catch-all marketing label for art created by people who are outside the mainstream “art world” or “art gallery system”, regardless of their circumstances or the content of their work. A more specific term, “outsider music“, was later adapted for musicians.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This