The Outsider Art Fair is coming to New York on January 29, bringing 50 international galleries of folk, self-taught, and outsider art to Center 548 for four glorious days. The fair offers the rare opportunity for artists operating far outside the regulations of the art world — whether marginalized, isolated, incarcerated, institutionalized or psychologically compromised — a space to show the vibrant and singular artworks that don’t just reflect their worlds, but constitute them. In anticipation of one of our favorite art events of the year, we’re spotlighting a different outsider artist every day.
Jenny and Her Sisters are Nearly Run Down by Train…, n.d. Watercolor and pencil on paper 18 x 24 inches (45.7 x 61 cm)
From the outside, Henry Darger lived a quiet, menial life. He lived for his entire adulthood in a one-and-a-half bedroom apartment. He worked as a dishwasher, a bandage roller and a janitor. He had one close friend, Whilliam Schloeder. He attended mass five times a day.
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Like his works, Darger remains a figure riddled with paradox. He is both beloved as an artist and cult figure, whose work is celebrated in galleries and museums around the world, and a deranged deviant endowed with the ”mind of a serial killer.” (He was, by one biographer, actually accused of murdering a young girl.)
Mystery surrounds the life and mind of the reclusive Darger, a man whose tombstone eerily reads: “Artist, Protector of Children.” Like many outsider artists, Darger’s life was plagued with darkness, obsession and chaos. However, due to his ability to function relatively “properly” in society, some argue Darger falls more into the category of self-taught artist than outsider. The ambiguity is not surprising given the anomalous spirit of Darger’s oeuvre. Perhaps the tension relates to the viewer’s assessment of the work: Is it the aberrant expression of an outsider’s perverse desires or an obsessive illustration of the turmoil within us all? Is Darger one of us or not?
Darger’s work will be on view courtesy Andrew Edlin Gallery at the Outsider Art Fair, from January 29 until February 1, at Center 548 in New York.
