Art Brut

Art Brut, translated from the French as ‘raw art’, is used to describe art occurring outside of the conventional art scene, typically without the process of formal training that renders art ‘cooked’. The term was coined by the French artist Jean Dubuffet in the 1940s. A significant contribution to this genre, although not exclusively, is from those people with exceptional artistic abilities who also suffer from serious mental illness. Free from the constraints of formal art culture, Art Brut allows for unbridled creative expression, in turn giving the viewer a direct insight into the artist's perceptions, fantasies, hopes and fears.