The Outside Chance - Outsider Art Focus - Gravesend
Marijke Hall meets the team behind Artrack and new selling platform Art Rabble, putting disabled artists’ work on the international stage
Tucked away in the corner of Milton Road business park in Gravesend is an art studio.
From the outside, it looks like any of the other units there, but open the door and you’ll find paintings, drawings and sculptures, covering the walls from the floor to the ceiling.
There’s colour everywhere. Creations dangle from above. There are textiles and multiple canvases leaning up against one another.
You catch glimpses of Van Gogh’s style in some paintings, Damien Hirst’s in others.
It’s the studio of Artrack (@artrack_nas), a group run by the National Autistic Society for adults with autism.
Every day you’ll find them here, heads down, music up, as they work painstakingly on their creations with the hope other people will see and enjoy them.
But unlike neurotypical artists, it’s not quite that easy. The art part is not the problem for this talented bunch. With communication difficulties and other challenges, setting up a meeting with a gallerist is. Running a website or keeping up an Instagram account, impossible. Actually selling a piece of work is a feat that may seem too far out of reach.
This all of course means there’s a risk that their art - and the hard work that goes into it - might never be seen, might never be celebrated.
But thanks to the National Autistic Society, which has run the group since 2001, and now Art Rabble, a new platform for disabled artists, their work is being shown to the world.
They’ve exhibited across the South East, including showcases at the Saatchi Gallery and The Blake Gallery.
Their work is also snapped up by buyers, with the artists making some money, which typically gets spent on more art supplies.
Kathryn Graff runs Artrack and says when they sell a piece it brings untold joy.
“When something is such a big passion of yours and someone else celebrates that, too, it’s really amazing,” she says. “They make incredible art and it’s important that we are advocating for them and making the contacts to help them show it off.
“The artists all paint with the aim to exhibit and sell their artwork.
“They’ve been selling their work for a long time. And now with Art Rabble, they have this opportunity to sell online, which does an amazing job spreading the word. It means so many more people are seeing the artists’ work.”
“It’s massively important that there is a light shone on outsider art. It can be quite segregated from the rest of society and yet it’s an amazing community”
Art such as that created by the group can often be categorised as ‘outsider art’ - work that is seen as having a ‘naive quality’ and produced by those outside the typical construct of the art world, such as neurodiverse people, prisoners and children.
Typically, they are self-taught and have little contact with the mainstream art world and its institutions.
“It’s massively important that there is a light shone on outsider art,” says Kathryn. “It can be quite segregated from the rest of society and yet it’s an amazing community.
“Any opportunity for us to be working in the community is worth taking advantage of because it’s so important for both sides - us but also for neurotypical people.”
Meeting the Artrack artists, there’s no doubt they are in their element and all are keen to show off their work. There’s Tony Cronk, who recently sold some of his clay work at an exhibition. Then there’s Clive Mealin, whose art shows touches of Van Gogh. His Birds on Oare Marshes print has been a popular choice for buyers.
He’s been attending the group since it started and has produced countless works, honing his skills and earning many admirers of his art.
Michael Byrne, with his music-inspired creations, and Michael Lymbery, who produces pieces with exceptional detail, have also been going to the group since its inception.
An old newspaper cutting found in the studio shows the three of them, looking younger, proudly holding up their artwork.
Fast-forward 21 years and they are still together, still producing masterpieces, but now for the world to see.
“Artrack is a great opportunity for them,” says Kathryn. “Every autistic individual is unique and has things they enjoy doing and maybe they struggle with and so it’s really important that we provide an atmosphere that makes everyone feel welcome and they are able to celebrate themselves. There’s some amazing talent here.”
It was this talent that caught the attention of Lisa Lim from Art Rabble.
The mum-of-four, who has a child with Down’s syndrome, started the online platform at the end of last year to help artists with disabilities, who typically find it difficult to access and promote their artwork through the traditional channels.
Her aim? For their artwork to sing from the walls of houses all over the world, so their artistic contribution is recognised.
“The stories I’ve heard and the people I’ve met are just really heart-warming - people whose everyday lives aren’t always that easy or straightforward,” she says. “They still have such great spirit and energy and enthusiasm for their art.
“And a lot of them, like the guys in Gravesend, go down to their art groups every week.
“They’re so enthused about it and it’s a little bit infectious.”
She says the art that’s produced is more meaningful than anything you would buy from a high street retailer, which is just made en masse and seen in houses up and down the country.
Lisa says having a son with Down’s syndrome helped give her the push to start Art Rabble after her eyes were opened to another world.
“This is a whole community of people that I probably wouldn’t have come into contact with had I not had my son,” she explains. “I suppose it opened my eyes and made me think that so often people are undervalued or are just sidelined.
“And I thought it was a real shame that only the people working with these artists were the people in the know, seeing this amazing art and going ‘Wow, that’s really awesome’.
“So I think it’s a really nice thing for other people who aren’t connected to someone who has a disability, for them to see it and be surprised.
“To maybe think ‘You know what, I shouldn’t underestimate people and everyone has something to give’.
“These people like the guys in Gravesend are amazing. They deserve a voice and a platform.”
Lisa says she came across Artrack on her search for artists to promote through Art Rabble and was so impressed with their work that she got in touch to see if she could take them on.
“We can sell internationally, so for instance we recently sold a picture to the States.
“There are print bases all over, so it’s removing another barrier, meaning their art can be seen - and bought - everywhere.”
The artists also get 50% of the profit, too, meaning they can make some money for those all-important art supplies.
“The artists put their heart and soul into their work, it means an awful lot to them, so to get their work bought and admired is really special,” she says. “It’s just the most enormous vote of confidence.”
INFO: art-rabble.org
