I’m so glad to hear that you want to start collecting OUTSIDER ART. First things first. Go grab you a few books on the subject! Where do you find books on OUTSIDER ART | SELF TAUGHT ART you ask? Amazon is your best bet for a beginner collection but some of the best books for later consumption are off the market and very hard to find. Titles like FINE FOLK and SIGNS & WONDERS… they are great books but very hard to find and there are more accessible titles you can begin with. A small look into my personal collection and I can tell you for a fact I have spent close to $10,000 on my reference library. Now, that is over a course of 20 years. I started buying books in college at a rough $40 to $100 per book and the rest is history. So for now, go to Amazon and type in OUTSIDER ART. You will find that there are several books on the subject but still a little confusing on which one to pick up. Our suggestion is, to start with you need an overall reference book. Having a dedicated artist book is good but if you want the most bang for your buck, a book that has a different artist every other page with bios and pictures is the way to go. Try to find a book called: THE OUTSIDER ART SOURCE BOOK put out by RAW VISION MAGAZINE. Its so good, every page is a different artist. But fair warning that some of the volumes are out of print and sell for over $1,000 per copy. You might get lucky and pick one up for $40 like we did. One trick is, when you add it to your cart it will show you what other people bought at the time they purchased the Outsider Art Source Book. And then you will go down the Rabbit Hole of the OUTSIDE ART | SELF TAUGHT ART reference books. Good luck!
Now that you have a few good books with some good visuals and you can put a face, birth, death date with the art you like – now it’s time to start shopping. The best place to buy OUTSIDER ART is from a reputable gallery. They too are somewhat hard to find but here are a few that we know personally: Jeanine Taylor at her gallery in Sanford, FL and Mark Karelson at Mason Fine Art in Atlanta, GA. Another good source is the Auction Galleries that specialize in the subject of Outsider Art | Self Taught Art. There are a few around including us here at Ledbetter Folk Art.
Maybe you are still lost and you dont know where to start. If thats the case here is a bit of guidance. Start with Benny Carter. He was a self taught artist that lived in Madison, North Carolina. He started painting when he lost his job in 1992 and produced thousands of pieces of art from bird houses, sculptures, tall clocks, and wonderful wall hanging paintings. He is especially known for his miniature paintings sometimes under 2 inches. Give us a call if you have any art you want to sell or buy! 336.524.1077