Damian Le Bas (30 January 1963,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

– 9 December 2017,

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

) was a British artist associated with the

Outsider Art Outsider art is Fine art, art made by Autodidacticism, self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts with typically little or no contact with the Convention (norm), conventions of the art worlds. The term ''ou ...

(or "Art Brut") label, as well a leading exponent of the "Roma Revolution" in art.

Life

Le Bas was of

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

heritage. Le Bas attended the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

. He lived and worked with his wife, the Romany artist

Delaine Le Bas Delaine Le Bas (born 1965) is a British artist from a Romani background. Biography Le Bas told the Travellers' Times that "I actually liked going to school which was difficult because I am the only one out of five of us that finished school. And ...

, in

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

on the south coast. He was the father of writer Damian Le Bas.

Collections

Since 1987 several of Le Bas' pieces are held in the Musgrave-Kinley Collection of works by key Outsider artists, administered by

Monika Kinley Monika Kinley (24 August 1925 – 9 March 2014) was a British art dealer, collector and curator, particularly noted for her championing of the work and integrity of outsider artists. ''The Times'' called her "outsider art's champion". Early lif ...

, until her death in 2014. His more recent work is found, among others, in the collections of Perpetuum Mobile.

Exhibitions

He exhibited frequently in the UK and Germany, and his works have been shown at Moderna Museet in Sweden, in Japan, France, Finland and the United States. He was well known in Outsider Art circles, and was exhibited as part of a survey-show of

Art Brut Art Brut is an English indie rock band. Their debut album, '' Bang Bang Rock & Roll'', was released on 30 May 2005, with its follow up, ''It's a Bit Complicated'', released on 25 June 2007. Named after French painter Jean Dubuffet's definition ...

Malmö Konsthall Malmö Konsthall is an exhibition hall located in the center of Malmö, Sweden. It is one of the largest exhibition halls for contemporary art in Europe. Building The hall was designed by architect Klas Anshelm (1914-1980), who was inspir ...

in 1991. He was a participant of the Prague Biennale 3. He exhibited at the Raw Arts Festival. In later years, the Traveller - Romani - Gypsy experience became a recurrent theme in his work. Le Bas was invited to participate in the 1st Roma Pavilion at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

in 2007. He subsequently became a driving force behind the Perpetual Romani-Gypsy Pavilion in Venice in 2009 and the co-initiator of the 4th Roma Pavilion which took place in Berlin in 2013. He exhibited frequently in the UK and Germany, and his works have been shown in Japan, France, Finland, Sweden and in the United States. *

, Malmö, Scania, Sweden, 1991. A survey-show of

. *1st Roma Pavilion at the

, 2007. *

Moderna Museet Moderna Museet is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened Moderna Museet Malmö in Malmö. History The museum opened in Stockh ...

, Stockholm, Sweden * Prague Biennale 3

References

External links

The Perpetual Romani-Gypsy

CHAVI: Reclaiming Gypsy Representation, Novas Gallery, LondonEngland & Co Gallery, London
1963 births 2017 deaths Artists from Sheffield Romani artists Outsider art British Romani people Romani people in art {{UK-artist-stub