Russian Outsider Art and Religion

The book investigates the religious discourse of Russian Outsider Art. The phenomenon of religious subject matter and imagery among Russian outsider artists often corresponds with a time of radical restructuring in the nation's worldview and the search for a new spiritual basis during the second half of the 1980s and 1990s. Religion in the works of Russian outsider artists emerges as a kind of therapy or compensation. Religious images allow us to come to terms with the injustice of the...
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The book investigates the religious discourse of Russian Outsider Art. The phenomenon of religious subject matter and imagery among Russian outsider artists often corresponds with a time of radical restructuring in the nation's worldview and the search for a new spiritual basis during the second half of the 1980s and 1990s. Religion in the works of Russian outsider artists emerges as a kind of therapy or compensation. Religious images allow us to come to terms with the injustice of the world and to find salvation from physical and mental suffering and to rethink our way of life. Variations in the use of religious "hypertext" by outsider artists ranges from a literal adherence to the biblical text to a free interpretation of religious symbols and characters, embedded in the author's narrative and mixed with images of popular culture, modern art, and additional spiritual systems. The book analyzes the creative stories of four Russian outsider artists--Vladimir Zoroastrov, Alexander Likhanov, Ksenia Belyaeva and Valery Schekalov--as the most vivid and typical strategies.