Cute and Crude

A conversation between Luise Ross and SHRINE

SHRINE presents Cute and Crude for the Outsider Art Fair’s 30th incarnation. The booth is dedicated to pioneering gallerist Luise Ross and will celebrate her legendary gallery program which spanned more than thirty years in New York City. Luise always placed trained and self-taught artists on the same playing field, and her dynamic group shows were as likely to include David Salle as they were to showcase Bill Traylor and Minnie Evans.

The terms “cute” and “crude” have served as offhand and uninspired descriptions for self-taught artists’ creations since the fields of folk and “naive” art first began attracting attention. When paired, the words act in opposition and hopefully negate the negative implications of these descriptions that hold no understanding of the unrivaled ingenuity of self-taught artists around the globe. These artists have always been held back back from wider acclaim and interest from the contemporary and modern art world. It’s time for a shift to where all art is celebrated as just that, ART.

While Luise Ross would never admit it, she is also a little bit cute and crude, which just adds to her charm.