"But Henry Longed to Tell his own Story. The Ultimate Story."

[thewyteryno]

I recently discovered Henry Darger. He was an incredibly reclusive unlearned artist and writer that was possibly mentally ill in one capacity or another. He basically locked himself in a small apartment room for 40 years, only leaving to work menial janitorial jobs and attend mass 3 times a day. He talked to no one, beyond a sentence or two here

Comments

[thewyteryno]

Also, I don't know what happened with Labor Day, but we should try again. (Until we get it right >_>)

[blackbard]

"The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal artist is the aim.
[...]We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless."
-Oscar Wilde, preface to The Portrait of Dorian Gray which I just happened to have read.

There's a lot of facets to life. I wouldn't suggest madness as creativity. :p

[thewyteryno]

Oh you and your pithy zingers. ;-*

I should specify that while his mental state is up for debate, he never showed any concrete signs of being insane (I don't think he was). But he undoubtedly had extreme social issues, which I don't reflect or envy.

Maybe I see the "mad artist" as somewhat romantic, since I'd be free from all the bothersome "formal learning," and any mistakes I made could be written off as a part of my "cracked brilliance."

[blackbard]

Perhaps. But I am in the minority where I do not find much romanticism in isolationism in any of its forms.
Gotta figure, what's more important: the ability to create art in a new way, or a new reason to create it?
I suppose I wouldn't find much reason locked in a box all day.

I would prefer to be just cracked instead of brilliantly so. Because brilliance implies some sort of responsibility on my part to deliver. :p

[thewyteryno]

I don't find romanticism in isolation. I find it in the pure focus on the art that encompassed his life. But it's fair to reason that the vastness of his work is (in part) a response to the social void he felt, so maybe it's a package deal.

I wouldn't say responsibility, or at least none I'd entertain feeling required to meet. Maybe a certain expectation of quality met?

[thewyteryno]

I just pulled up and listened to "Flagpole Sitta."

"you'd have to be a pretty fucking fantastic author to hold my attention for that long :P"

That's one reason I want to read it. Well, not read it because I'd still be working on it a decade later, but have it in front of me to skim. I want to know what he filled all those pages with. Even it's unneededly long, I'm curious in what way.

Of course it's possible the documentary fudged the quality of his writing (for obvious reasons).