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Cuban outsider artists

Benefit auction Dec. 19 stars Cuban outsider artists

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Cuban outsider artists
Damian Valdes, ‘Untitled,’ ink on paper, 26 x 19 in. Estimate: $1,680-$2,280. NAEMI and White Gloves Auctions  image

MIAMI – NAEMI, in collaboration with Art Code Space, is presenting a benefit auction on the permanent art collection of NAEMI (National Arts Exhibitions of the Mentally III). The online auction, which is being conducted by White Gloves Auctions, will conclude Dec. 19, and it will donate 15% of the sales proceeds to benefit South Florida Wellness Network Inc. Bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers.

 The catalog of works will include important names of Cuban Outsider Art masters, internationally recognized, such as Jorge Alberto Cadi “El Buzo,” Misleidys Castillo and other talented creators such as Yaniel Agrafojo, Gary Brewer, Isaac Crespo, Peyi, Damián Valdés Dilla and Robert Wright.

Cuban outsider artists
Misleidys Castillo, ‘Woman,’ acrylic on paper, 2018, 9 x 13in. Estimate: $2,500-$3,500. NAEMI and White Gloves Auctions image

The unique artwork is produced by untrained artists and is known as “Outsider” art. These artists haven’t been formally trained in art, work outside the artistic mainstream, and have unconventional world views. Outsider art, sometimes called Art Brut, had 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 illness. Social isolation and traumatic experiences inform the works of others.

Cuban outsider artists
El Buzo , ‘Untitled,’ mixed media, 2017. Estimate: $1,400-$1,900. NAEMI and White Gloves Auctions image

“The art is not overly commercial. Some people feel threatened by it,” said Juan Martin, executive director of NAEMI. But what attracts him is the Outsiders’ authenticity. “They don’t care what is in style, nor whether their art can be sold or not. Their motivation is just to produce art,” he told the Miami Herald.

Cuban outsider artists
Isaac Crespo, ‘El rapto de la doncella,’ ink on paper, 28 x 20in. Estimate: $1,680-$2,280. NAEMI and White Gloves Auctions image

NAEMI is dedicated to discovering, studying, promoting, exhibiting and preserving the art of those struggling with mental illness throughout the world. The Fundraising will help NAEMI to continue working and to achieve its objectives: Artistic development of artists recovering from mental illnesses, advocacy for the arts and people with disabilities and the establishment of venues for exhibition, enhancement of self-image and self-esteem and vocational training and career development to become self-supporting through the arts for artists with disabilities through commercial galleries.

This event has been supported by The Miami Foundation, the Office of the Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners, and the Miami-Dade County Department of Public Housing and Community Development.

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