Outsider Art

I recently watched In the Realms of the Unreal, Jessica Yu's documentary of outsider artist Henry Darger. An utter recluse (there are only 3 known photos of him) Darger had been raised in a boys home as a teenager and later found menial employment at a Catholic hospital. He lived in the same small apartment for 40 years and it was during this time that he worked on a 15,145-page manuscript detailing the The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion

Interviewing the few people who knew him Yu is able to create a compelling narrative from the barest of details. Also by animating his illustrations the viewer gets a hint of what it must have been like to be in Darger's head.

The irony is his art sells for tens of thousands of dollars now and he is one of the world's most recognized outsider artists. Since his death in 1973 there have been many references in popular culture to Darger's work by other visual artists and numerous popular songs (Natalie Merchant, Sufjan Stevens, to Animal Collective just to name a few) These artists have variously drawn from and responded to Darger's artistic style as well as his themes.

Sometimes the polish of sophistication and commercial pursuits drains work of its vitality and idiosyncratic artistic expressions are just a whole lot more fun. These examples of hand painted movie posters show how an outsider's take on films can be much more direct and compelling than the usual floating heads that passes for movie poster design these days.

I'm curious what are some other favorite outsiders in design, music, art or whatever people in class would like to share.