NAEMI, in collaboration with ART CODE SPACE, is proud to announce I thought I was asleep, a collective exhibition of outsider art from the permanent art collection of NAEMI (National Arts Exhibitions of the Mentally III). The show will start running online from Saturday, November 14 to Saturday, January 16, 2021. 

Our catalog of works includes important names of Cuban Outsider Art masters, internationally recognized, such as Jorge Alberto Cadi “El Buzo” and Misleidys Castillo, and other talented creators, like Yaniel Agrafojo, Gary Brewer, Isaac Crespo, Peyi, Damián Valdes Dilla, and Robert Wright.

The incredibly unique artwork is produced by untrained artists and is known as “Outsider” art. These artists haven’t been formally trained in art, work outside the artistic mainstream, and have unconventional world views. Outsider art, sometimes called Art Brut, had its origins in the collections of 19th-century European psychiatric hospitals where doctors analyzed the work clinically. Many, but not all outsider artists suffer from mental illness. Social isolation and traumatic experiences inform the works of others. 

“The art is not overly commercial. Some people feel threatened by it,” says Juan Martin, executive director of NAEMI. But what attracts him is the Outsiders’ authenticity. “They don’t care what is in style, nor whether their art can be sold or not,” he says. “Their motivation is just to produce art.” -The Miami Herald-.

NAEMI is dedicated to discovering, studying, promoting, exhibiting, and preserving the art of those struggling with mental illness throughout the world. The Fundraising will help NAEMI to continue working and to achieve its objectives: Artistic development of artists recovering from mental illnesses, advocacy for the arts and people with disabilities and the establishment of venues for exhibition, enhancement of self-image and self-esteem and vocational training and career development to become self-supporting through the arts for artists with disabilities through commercial galleries. This event has been supported by The Miami Foundation, the Office of the Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners, and the Miami-Dade County Department of Public Housing and Community Development.