Henry Darger documentary.

[LabelKing]

Henry Darger was an American artist who is known for his 15,000 page manuscript entitled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion He worked as a janitor. A short biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger

 

[ATM]

The small amount of outsider art that I've seen has been fascinating.

 

[stach]

Darger was definately 'out there'. My own feeling is that he had some transgender identity issues, and probably an interest in children as sex objects. Much of the art looked like ****** Appreciation. Very strange yet beautiful. Many people consider him the be the best artist of the 20th century.

 

[LabelKing]

Yes, I agree his art had the semblance to pornography with the garish kitsch and the disembodied nature of the children's imagery and their gender identities.

I find him compelling even though I don't personally take to him that much.

 

[SGladwell]

Cool thread. I didn't know anything about the man beyond what Natalie Merchant sings in "The Ballad of Henry Darger" until I read it.

 

[Duveen]

LK - you always provide interesting diversions. I got interested in Darger when his drawings first started getting exhibited in commercial galleries in the mid-1990s. I didn't know that he now has a Natalie Merchant song dedicated to him... This is an interesting article on John MacGregor, one of the art historians who 'discovered' HD: http://www.acer-access.com/[email protected]/sfbg.htm If you find him interesting, you should check out a similarly religious, interestingly conflicted indvidual from San Francisco - Achilles Rizzoli. Fewer penises (he preferred to sublimate by drawing 'portraits' of friends and acquaintances as architectural renderings). See here for a bit on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles_Rizzoli

 

[faustian bargain]

wow, these drawings are amazing. interesting that he's an 'outsider' yet has formal training (as an architectural draftsman). i can't imagine drawing these things just for the sake of drawing...so much work.

http://www.spamula.net/blog/archives/000519.html

 

[LabelKing]

This Rizzoli is quite fascinating.

There is also Lequeu and Louis-Boullee, so called Visionary architects who never had a thing of theirs built:

 

[faustian bargain]

boullee's monument to newton (or whoever) is a classic. another interesting visual theorist (i.e. nothing built besides some sculptures, as far as i know) is Lebbeus Woods. He does beautiful renderings and models.

***edit: although, like Boullee, he is hardly an outsider. he's an architecture professor, last i knew.