Beyond: Irish Outsider Art :

Irish Outsider Art Exhibition Curated by Brent Pope

Brent Pope is best known for his rugby punditry on RTÉ yet another passion of his is “Outsider Art”. This is a term coined to describe art made by people with no formal training, whose work is created outside the influence of mainstream establishments such as art schools. It is also referred to as RawArt.“I’m not an art critic or expert; I just have a passion for this kind of art and the talented people that create it. Many, but not all, are living on the margins of society and may have experienced social disadvantage or exclusion as a result of issues such as mental health, homelessness, learning disabilities, or may have ended up in the prison system”. Having scoured the country over several months earlier in the year, in search of the very best IrishOutsider Art he could find, Brent has put together a collection of 40 paintings and drawings which will be exhibited in Dublin and Cork this autumn. This is the first Irish only Outsider art collection on this scale ever to be exhibited in Ireland. It is Brent’s wish that it will travel abroad in 2016.A TV documentary about Brent’s journey, putting this exhibition together as well as featuring some of the selected artists’ life stories will be shown on RTE One at 10.15pm on Thursday the 15th of October 2015