Colin Rhodes

Research

Rhodes’ research is primarily in the areas twentieth century and contemporary art history and theory. He has written and lectured widely on Modernism, especially Expressionism in its many forms, and Outsider Art. His books include the influential Outsider Art: spontaneous alternatives (2000), which has also been published in Spanish, French and Finnish editions, and Primitivism and Modern Art (1994), which has also been translated into French. He has a particular interest in the ways in which western art and culture has interacted with that of its perceived others, and in those cultures of production that exist in the margins of the dominant artworld. He is a regular contribitor to Raw Vision, Création Franche and The Burlington Magazine. He has a keen commitment to drawing and exhibits his own work occasionally.

Current work in progress includes a book on 20th Century Art for Thames & Hudson and an Encyclopedia of Outsider Art for Chicago University Press.

Exhibitions

‘Vision et Créations dissidentes’, Musée de la Création Franche, Bègles, France, 27 September – 30 November 2008.

Publications

‘Primitivism: the primordium lost and found and reinvented’, in K. Zijlmans and W. van Damme, ed. World art Studies: exploring concepts and approaches, Amsterdam: Valiz, 2008, pp 385-399, ISBN 13: 978-90-78088-2-6

‘Outsider Art and the outsiderish’, in Without Borders: Outsider Art in an Antipodean Context, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne and Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, 2008, pp.12-14

‘Outsider Art: Moving in from the Margins’ (Special Report), Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year 2008, Sydney: Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., 2008, pp.190-191 (ISBN 978 1 59339 425 7)

'Vicios y virtudes del imperativo autodidictica’, Expressionismo Brücke, ed. Aya Soika, Madrid, 2005.

‘Les fantômes qui nous hantent: en écrivant Art Brut et Art Outsider’, Ligeia: Dossiers sur l’art, nos. 53,54, 55, 56, July-December 2004, pp. 183-195.

‘Burlington Primitive: non-European art in The Burlington Magazine before 1930’, The Burlington Magazine, vol. 146, no. 1211, February 2004, pp. 98-104.

‘Fulfilments of Desire in the Work of a Self-Taught Artist: the intimate existence of Malcolm McKesson’, Art History, vol. 25, no. 5, 2002, pp. 649 -675.

Ian Breakwell: Vocals (4CD set of artist’s soundworks, edited and with an essay by C. Rhodes, Loughborough University School of Art & Design, 2003.

Outsider Art: Spontaneous Alternatives, Thames & Hudson, 2000.

Primitivism and Modern Art, Thames & Hudson, 1994.

Awards

British Academy research grants 2002, 2003

Arts and Humanities Research Council research grants, 2002, 2005

Hohenberg Grant, University of Memphis, 2002

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Carnival, 2008, Linocut, 480 x 225mm