The MIXX: Art + The Outsider

01 Apr The MIXX: Art + The Outsider

The MIXX is a free event designed to to bring community members together to discuss important subjects using all forms of art, including performing art, as a catalyst. At each event, guests are invited to enjoy a pot-luck style meal and creative dialogue hosted by Pia Gedeon, owner, MIXX Projects + Atelier. The upcoming “The MIXX: Art + The Outsider” takes place Thursday, March 31, 7 – 9 p.m.; then again in Espanyol on Friday, April 1. MIXX is located at 307 East Colorado Avenue. Please RSVP to Pia @ gedeon@mixxprojects.com.  

Outsider Art is a very specific term in the lexicon of art history. Outsider Art or Art Brut (“Raw Art”) referred to the work of wholly untrained persons, often psychotics, who favored spontaneity over tutored skill; outlaw status over celebrity. Art Brut was made popular, almost a cult, by the French painter-sculptor-lithographer-writer Jean Dubuffet.

The MIXX: Art + The Outsider offers a different spin on the notions of “art” and “outsider.”

The artists at The MIXX appear to be relatively rational individuals – perhaps a little bit crazy, but only in the good sense – who claim as their turf the space between cultures. For them that gap holds a world of creative possibilities. And they have chosen to landscape that difficult terrain with tacit but provocative commentary, often with a sociocultural cast. This is art about symbols. And isn’t it fun to mess with them?

Claudia Garcia from the San Miguel Resource Center, the region’s only nonprofits the deals with interpersonal violence, collaborated with MIXX to choose the artists, making these “outsiders” “insiders” – at least for the duration of their MIXX show.

Lauren Henriksen of MIXX will lead the English event; Claudia will facilitate the Spanish event.

“We want to focus on running a conversation in Spanish to provide access to those in our community whose primary language is not English,” explained Henriksen. “Claudia isn’t so much representing the Resource Center as acting as a community member who has experienced immigration and is in contact with a large portion of Telluride’s Spanish-speaking residents.”

One of the featured artists at the gathering will be local Americo Velez, whose photographs explore the transitional space between Puerto Rican and American cultures; another talent is Ana Teresa Fernandez, who painted the border fence between Playas de Tijuana and San Diego to look invisible. Nikki S. Lee turns the camera on herself, transforming her appearance and behavior so she can fit into different cultures within the United States. Now you see her; now you don’t.

“The thing I love most about contemporary art is that a lot of it isn’t ‘pretty.’ It is not made to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside,” continued Henriksen. “So many amazing artists use art as a tool to make important statements: some that make us uncomfortable; others that cause us to reconsider where we stand on a given subject. Either way, making visual statements that are open to interpretation and often sparks incredible conversations . Those conversations can transform by provoking new thoughts, generating new perspectives, which is why I find the MIXX events so meaningful and important.”

To date, MIXX talks have focused on art and body image, Black Lives Matter, drug culture, agriculture, burlesque, and now immigration. In future, the goal is to collaborate with community members to run events on the current political state and other controversial topics.