Outsider Art and Alternative Comics: Influences and Artistic Dialogues between Two Cultural Fields in Dissent

According to Thierry Smolderen, during some hundred years comics have remain very stable regarding their formal devices. Nevertheless, in the last quarter of the twentieth century, the boundaries of comics have become less clear and more porous. In their willingness for differentiating themselves from mainstream standards, today’s alternative publishers are driven by a never-ending quest for inventing new ways of making comics. In this perspective, they also have been always more interested in narrative images coming from other art forms. Considering the works but also the discourses coming from the actors of both outsider art and alternative comics (creators, publishers, theorists), the lecture will highlight remarkable influences and aesthetic dialogues between two cultural fields in dissent.