Corps subtils: Art Brut Meets Tantric Art at LaM

The LaM (Lille Métropole Musée d'art moderne, d'art contemporain et d'art brut) presents "Corps subtils. Une traversée des collections d'art brut et d'art indien de Philippe Mons" from June 8 to September 15, 2013. The exhibition showcases the collection of Philippe Mons, a psychiatrist and collector who has long collaborated with the Aracine collection. Mons's collection includes art brut, works by psychiatric patients, and tantric art objects from India, where he regularly practices yoga. The exhibition also features works from the LaM collection and the Collection de l'Art Brut in Lausanne. The show juxtaposes Western and Eastern representations of the body, exploring themes of microcosm/macrocosm, spiritual art, and the body as an energy exchange site. Mandalas are compared to visionary paintings by Fleury Joseph Crépin. The exhibition risks unconventional presentation by confronting art brut with traditional sacred art from India, Nepal, and Tibet, highlighting the shared exploration of psychic forces and parallel universes. It argues that the solitary individuality of outsiders with their personal mythologies can coexist with ancestral forms of the sacred.