The outsider art of autistic, non-verbal sculptor Shinichi Sawada, whose bizarre clay creations ‘speak for themselves’

Growing interest in what is termed “outsider art” has brought Japanese sculptor Shinichi Sawada to the attention of the international gallery circuit.

The 38-year-old artist, who is diagnosed as severely autistic and non-verbal, was first introduced to a wider audience when his works were included in the main curated exhibition of the 2013 Venice Biennale as an example of art created by individuals with no official training or references to specific traditions.

Since then, Sawada has been represented by the Jennifer Lauren Gallery in Manchester, UK, and his first solo exhibition in the US is currently taking place at the Venus Over Manhattan gallery in New York. (The gallery website has a 3D virtual tour).

Sawada is a prolific sculptor of strange, original figures that rival the richness of the fantastical world of Argentinian writer J.L. Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings. He works mainly in clay, and his bestial and anthropomorphic figures are nearly always covered in an armour of thornlike projections.

Some are vaguely human-like, others resemble animals or reptiles. They are creatures of an imaginative realm known only to the artist himself.