"Culprits, Innocents and Outsiders: Heartland Visions"

A wacky life story strengthens any artist’s résumé; for “outsider” or self-taught artists, it’s the equivalent of an M.F.A. Morris Ben Newman (d. 1980) made ingenious use of limited resources, but we doubt the Cleveland resident’s crude paintings of temples and flowers would get a second look if he hadn’t claimed to have psychic powers.

While Newman’s a weak link in this exhibition of seven self-taught Ohio artists, the others’ mostly strong work reflects unique approaches to subject matter and materials. With little more than rocks and chewing gum, agoraphobe Mary Frances Merrill (d. 1999) made sculptures of human heads that evoke African idols. Elijah Pierce (d. 1984), a Baptist preacher who participated in the Great Migration, skillfully carved Before Death All Are Equal (pictured) and other wood relief sculptures into powerful religious icons. In her colorful fabric “paintings,” champion quilter Mary Borkowski (d. 2008) rendered people, animals and landscapes as delicately with silk thread as other artists would with pen and ink. Her unusual appropriation of a “feminine” medium gives her 1960s pieces unprecedented texture and warmth, and makes her seem decades ahead of contemporary art trends.

Self-taught artists appeal to us when, like Borkowski, they disregard entrenched beliefs about art versus craft, or, like Pierce, they explore religion and other subjects today’s art world tends to ignore. “Culprits, Innocents and Outsiders” suggests that when those factors are absent, self-taught artists may come off as off-puttingly traditional or unpolished—traits the heartland doesn’t need.—Lauren Weinberg

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