In the Realms of the Palmsonntag

For those of you in the NYC area, outsider artist extraordinaire, Henry Darger, is risen (again)! A new show of his work opened today, posthumously, of course, at the American Folk Art Museum:

Dargerism: Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger

"The American Folk Art Museum is home to the single largest repository of works by one of the most significant artists of the twentieth century, Henry Darger (1892 - 1973), who created nearly three hundred watercolor and collage paintings to illustrate his epic masterpiece, 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, which encompasses more than fifteen thousand pages."

Who knew?

This particular exhibit incorporates works from about a dozen contemporary artists who have made reference to Darger's naked-child-filled (and dreamycreepy) fantasy world of Abbiennia, to the creation of new worlds through shear force of the individual mind (of which we only glimpse timeslices through the artists' work). I wonder if all these artists made the conscious decision to echo some of the themes in Darger's work (life?), or if it was just coincidence? No matter, really (for a causal artfan - like myself). Outside of this show, Henry Darger has certainly been an explicit touchstone for many a creative folk; check out some of the pop culture references listed at his Wikipedia site: Natalie Merchant, Neil Gaiman and Sufjan Stevens, represent!

The general format of the show reminds me of the "Picasso and American Art" exhibit at the SFMOMA, early in 2007. I remember going to it with a friend and we both thought - I think we both thought this; maybe it was just me? - that it was a bit cold and clinical. That is, I found it super-interesting to see American art reflecting various Picasso works (in many a genre) over this huge time span - decades of Picasso production! - but the layout of the rooms at the SFMOMA left me without any emotional reaction to the art itself. In short, I found the curation lacking.

But getting back to the Henry Darger show at the American Folk Art Museum, I hold out hope for better selection and arrangement, and do want to check it out en vivo. In fact, I've wanted to see more of his work ever since I saw the 2004 documentary "In the Realms of the Unreal", which gave a glimpse of this odd man, his odd life and his odd obsessions. And since the show is up until September 21st, there's a pretty good chance I'll be able to make it happen (if I remember); I do my fair share of hanging in the Big City each year.

In other art-happening-in-notSF news, Anselm Kiefer has an installation called Palmsonntag up at the First Baptist Church in Los Angeles (in conjunction with a gallery showing of Kiefer's paintings, sculpture and collage at Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills). This too, I'd love to check out.

You see, my favorite show (ever!) at the SFMOMA since I started going regularly (say, 2004) has been "Anselm Kiefer: Heaven and Earth"; it was up late 2006.. (although I did enjoy the pomp and spectacle of the "Matthew Barney: Drawing Restraint" show too, also in 2006). Large scale works of (only semi-imagined) dystopian landscapes, crawling with unnatural biological vibration in a framework of environmental regularity: they crush my soul.. yet still, I would step right inside any one of them if I could. Like many people, I have an unnatural attraction to Kiefer's hypnotic paintings (truly - you can fall into them), which I guess is why he is one of the most well-known German artists alive today (internationally, speaking, that is).

Yeah, so.. two shows far away from me; but I thought my friends farther afield would like to know. If you do check either of them out, I'd love to hear your take. And if you don't (due to distance or desire or whatever), you've still got a few new arty things to say at your next cocktail party (yo). So, you're welcome either way. ;)