May 2017 Home / Lifestyle / Arts & Entertainment / Art Related articles Fraser goes but Bonhams to stay in May 19 2017 at 7:07 PM Updated May 19 2017 at 5:02 PM Museum of Everything founder brings 'outsider art' exhibition to MONA Save Article Print License Article James Brett, of the Museum of Everything, says Australian galleries play it too safe. Wolter Peeters Victorian drawings inspired by spirits and seances, a Perth electrician's paintings embedded with knick-knacks and images of visionary cathedrals at the time of the apocolypse by a Roman roadsweeper might not be regular sights in Australian cultural institutions. But The Museum of Everything founder James Brett says local institutions need to reconsider what really is art and not play it so safe. London-based Brett is mounting the first major exhibition of folk art, vernacular art or "outsider art" – a term he dislikes – with David Walsh's Hobart-based MONA, which will open on June 10 to coincide with winter solstice arts festival Dark Mofo. "Australia feels to me like there is so much potential material, and there's a receptiveness, people are so open to ideas," he says. "Some of the mainstream museums play it a bit safe – a lot more than we see in Europe and America." The museum, which for this exhibition includes about 2000 pieces from 100 or so by Jemima Whyte Advertisement search the AFR STREET TALK NEWS BUSINESS MARKETS REAL ESTATE OPINION TECHNOLOGY PERSONAL FINANCE LEADERSHIP LIFESTYLE ALL