John Maizels

Who is John Maizels?

John Maizels is the founder of Raw Vision magazine which he created in London in 1989 as a forum for the work of self-taught artists, or unknown geniuses, which he felt was overlooked and under-appreciated. Initially published biannually and now quarterly, Raw Vision remains the world's only international journal of outsider art and continues to contribute dialogue to the international field.

A former student of the Chelsea School of Art, Maizels went on to teach art for many years at Aldenham School in Hertfordshire. Upon finding out about outsider art, he founded Raw Vision magazine.

Maizels is the author of several art books including the Outsider Art Sourcebook, Raw Creation: Outsider Art and Beyond, and Raw Erotica which he has most recently been working on with Roger Cardinal and Colin Rhodes. Maizels also contributed to Vernacular Visionaries: International Outsider Art with an essay on Nek Chand's Rock Garden of Chandigarh, India, for which he helps to run a volunteer programme, describing the visionary artist's garden as the nearest one can get to an earthly paradise.