Outsider Art and Graffiti Glossary: Terms From A to Z

Terms are listed alphabetically. Graffiti terms are marked (graffiti).

Art brut

"Raw art": Jean Dubuffet's 1945 term for art he believed was untouched by artistic culture, made by psychiatric patients, mediums, prisoners and isolated people. See Jean Dubuffet and art brut.

Art singulier

A French term for independent, self-taught artists working in a raw, personal style, often shown at the Halle Saint Pierre in Paris.

Art therapy

The use of art-making to support mental health. In Britain it was pioneered by Edward Adamson at Netherne Hospital from 1946. See art from the asylum.

Automatic drawing

Drawing without conscious control, letting the hand move freely. Practised by Spiritualist mediums and later by the Surrealists.

Black book (graffiti)

A writer's sketchbook for practising letters and collecting other writers' tags.

Bombing (graffiti)

Painting many quick tags or throw-ups across a wide area.

Buff, the (graffiti)

The removal of graffiti by councils, owners or transport companies.

Burner (graffiti)

An outstanding graffiti piece that outshines those around it.

Character (graffiti)

A figure or cartoon painted alongside graffiti lettering.

Collection de l'Art Brut

The museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded on Jean Dubuffet's 1971 donation and opened in 1976; the world's first museum devoted to art brut.

Crew (graffiti)

A group of writers who paint together, such as London's Chrome Angelz.

Criminal damage

The offence, under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, of damaging property belonging to someone else without lawful excuse. Graffiti without permission is criminal damage in England and Wales. See graffiti and UK law.

Folk art

Art made within the shared traditions of a community, such as quilts, carved signs or canal art. See art brut vs outsider art.

Going over (graffiti)

Painting over another writer's work; a serious breach of etiquette unless the new work is better.

Hall of fame (graffiti)

A wall where the best writers paint large pieces, often with permission or tolerance.

House of Artists

The community at Gugging, near Vienna, where artists live and work; renamed from the Centre for Art and Psychotherapy in 1986. See the Gugging artists.

Intuitive art

A term for self-taught art used especially by Intuit in Chicago.

King (graffiti)

A highly respected, often long-established writer.

Legal wall

A surface whose owner allows people to paint graffiti on it, such as Leake Street in London. See legal graffiti walls.

Mediumistic art

Art made by people who believed a spirit or outside force guided their hand, such as Madge Gill and Augustin Lesage. See mediumistic art.

Mural

A large painting applied directly to a wall, often commissioned and legal.

Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection

The largest collection of outsider art in a UK public gallery, given to the Whitworth in Manchester in 2010.

Naïve art

Art by untrained painters working in fine-art forms, often flat, bright and detailed, such as the paintings of Alfred Wallis.

Neuve Invention

A category Jean Dubuffet created for makers close to art brut but more aware of the art world.

Outlier art

A term proposed by the curator Lynne Cooke for the 2018 National Gallery of Art exhibition Outliers and American Vanguard Art, as an alternative to "outsider". See the labels debate.

Outsider art

Art made by self-taught people outside the mainstream art world. Coined in English by Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an equivalent of art brut. See what is outsider art?

Paste-up (graffiti)

A poster or printed image glued to a wall, also called a wheatpaste.

Piece (graffiti)

Short for masterpiece: a large, colourful, carefully planned lettering work.

Prinzhorn Collection

A collection of art by psychiatric patients assembled at Heidelberg, Germany, from 1919 to 1921 and shown in a museum since 2001. See the Prinzhorn artists.

Raw Vision

The UK-based international magazine of outsider art, founded in London in 1989 by John Maizels.

Self-taught art

Art by people who learned outside formal art education; the most neutral alternative to "outsider art".

Spiritualism

A religious movement, popular from the mid-19th century, based on the belief that the living can communicate with the dead. It inspired much mediumistic art.

Stencil (graffiti)

A cut-out template sprayed through to create an image quickly; the technique of Banksy, Nick Walker and Blek le Rat.

Street art

Mainly image-based art in public space, such as stencils, posters, stickers and murals, aimed at a general audience. See graffiti vs street art.

Supported studio

A studio that gives artists with disabilities, mental ill health or brain injury the space, materials and help to make art. See supported studios.

Tag (graffiti)

A writer's stylised signature, done quickly with a marker or spray can.

Throw-up (graffiti)

A quickly painted name in outlined bubble letters with a simple fill.

Toy (graffiti)

An inexperienced or unskilled writer; an insult.

Visionary art

Art depicting spiritual or inner visions, by trained or untrained artists; used broadly by the American Visionary Art Museum.

Visionary environment

A building, garden or site transformed by one person into a single work of art, such as the Palais Idéal or Ron's Place. See what is a visionary environment?

Wildstyle (graffiti)

A complex style of interlocking letters that can be hard for non-writers to read.

Writer (graffiti)

What graffiti artists usually call themselves.