Autistic art

Autistic art is art created by autistic artists which captures or conveys a variety of autistic experiences or demeanor. Art by autistic artists has long been shown in separate venues from artists without disabilities.[1] The art of autistic people has often been considered part of outsider art.[1] There might be relationships between autism and talent due to the sensory hypersensitivity which could cause autistic people concentrate more deeply on details.[2] The works of some autistic artists have featured in art publications and documentaries and been exhibited in mainstream galleries. Now there are many autistic art programs and projects founded by nonprofit organizations, autistic artists or other institutions to help autistic people to express themselves and promote autistic art.[3]

Eve Wondering from the Tree of Knowledge, by autistic surrealist painter Bienvenido Bones Banez, Jr.

Overview

Autistic persons who have talent in art are considered as outsiders. People with autism could face various problems in their brain region including emotion processing, social cognition, face recognition, and executive functioning. They are hyper- and hypo-sensitive to the outside perceptions so they can't participate into normal social activities as ordinary people. For example, children with autism can't attend movies due to the environment which is dark, crowded and noisy.[4] On the other hand, this kind of sensory hyper sensitivity made autistic people much more perceptive than ordinary people. They tend to observe and perceive plenty of details which could result talent in mathematics, art or other fields.[5] They create artworks to depict and project their feelings from within, and to convey their expressions of outside world using the art tools. Different with common art, there is seldom any tradition or academic criteria in their creations. Autistic artists have their own styles of art which may not be understandable for other people. Other people may not able to understand the meanings of the creations, but they also has artistic values and deserve respect as other forms of art. They do provide interesting aesthetic experiences for us and present inner world of autistic persons.[6]

People

There are many different people that consider themselves to be autistic artists. Stephen Wiltshire (b. 1974), an artist who is diagnosed with autism, typically depicts cityscapes in his work.[7] He is one of the most famous autistic artists and his art usually surrounds architectural features. Donna Williams (1963-2017) focused on figurative works with an emphasis on movement. Larry Bissonnette[8] (b. 1957) and Henriett Seth F.[9](b. 1980) are also autistic artists who create abstract, highly patterned works. Gilles Tréhin (b. 1972) is a self-taught artist who creates largely architectural drawings in pencil. Many of his sketches are of an imaginary world called Urville.[10] George Widener[11] (b. 1962) also creates detailed imaginary worlds that are displayed in Ricco Maresca Gallery in New York, New York.[12] Other notable autistic artists include Richard Wawro (1952-2006), Jonathan Lerman (b. 1987) and govy (b. 1981).[13]

Projects

Drawing Autism

Drawing Autism is a collection of images and artwork created by people who are diagnosed with autism. This collection features great creations of more than 50 autistic artists around the world and illustrates the potential for art of autistic persons as well as an insight into some of the characteristics of autism. The founder of the project is Jill Mullin, who is a board-certified behavior analyst. She has 15-year work experience with a lot of autistic persons. During her work experience, Jill found that some of them are talented in mathematics, science and art. Glen is young man with autism and has a great talent for making caricatures. Faced with various problems of communicating and socializing, he enjoys drawing and connects himself with the world via creating. The experience of getting to know Glen motivated Jill to create this coherent collection for art created by autistic people.[14]

The Art of Autism

The Art of Autism is a nonprofit organization which empowers autistic people and their families through the arts which includes visual arts, music, blogging, poetry, dance, and other art forms. They provide various opportunities for autistic artists to display their creations and share their personal stories as well as for merchandising the art works. In addition, they are dedicated to foster the importance of art for autistic people and offer mentorship opportunities.[15]

See also
  • Autism: The Musical, a 2007 documentary about autistic children writing and appearing in their own play
  • Life, Animated, a 2016 documentary featuring Disney fan art by autistic Owen Suskind

References
  1. AutismConnect - Museums thrust autistic artists into the mainstream
  2. Baron-Cohen, Simon; Ashwin, Emma; Ashwin, Chris; Tavassoli, Teresa; Chakrabarti, Bhismadev (2009-05-27). "Talent in autism: hyper-systemizing, hyper-attention to detail and sensory hypersensitivity". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 364 (1522): 1377–1383. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0337. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 2677592. PMID 19528020.
  3. "Artwork". autism speaks. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  4. "Autism, Art, and Accessibility to Theater". AMA Journal of Ethics. 18 (12): 1232–1240. 2016-12-01. doi:10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.12.imhl1-1612. ISSN 2376-6980.
  5. Baron-Cohen, Simon; Ashwin, Emma; Ashwin, Chris; Tavassoli, Teresa; Chakrabarti, Bhismadev (2009-05-27). "Talent in autism: hyper-systemizing, hyper-attention to detail and sensory hypersensitivity". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 364 (1522): 1377–1383. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0337. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 2677592. PMID 19528020.
  6. Cardinal, Roger (2009-05-27). "Outsider Art and the autistic creator". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 364 (1522): 1459–1466. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0325. PMC 2677583. PMID 19528031.
  7. "Stephen Wiltshire - Buy original drawings and limited editions". Stephen Wiltshire. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  8. Smith, Roberta (1999-01-22). "ART REVIEW; Redefining a Style As It Catches On". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  9. Henriett Seth F. - Rain Girl | Wisconsin Medical Society Archived February 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  10. Wisconsin Medical Society Archived December 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  11. George Widener - A Multiply Gifted Savant | Wisconsin Medical Society Archived December 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  12. admin. "GEORGE WIDENER". Ricco Maresca Gallery. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  13. "govy". govy. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  14. Mullin, Jill,. Drawing autism. Grandin, Temple,. New York, NY. ISBN 978-1-61775-198-1. OCLC 833301442.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. "The art of autism". Retrieved May 6, 2020.


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