An excellent film about his life and work has been made: In the Realms of the Unreal [1]. Oddly not mentioned in the article (or did I miss it?)<p>[1]. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390123/" rel="nofollow">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390123/</a>
He wrote a massive novel, is dead and left no estate, and yet it remains unavailable to read. There is certainly no technological reason why this is the case.
“I figure that it’s
better to be a
sucker who makes
something than a
wise guy who is too
cautious to make
anything at all.”<p>I really like his quote. Simple, maybe said before in different words, and yet it stops you and makes you think for a moment about yourself.
Fredrik Knudsen did a really nice video covering Henry in his Down The Rabbit Hole series [1]. Would recommend<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjCS_u3Sgpg" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjCS_u3Sgpg</a>
Another similar artist that's still alive is Jon Sarkin [1] He has made over 10,000 pieces of outsider art usually drawn on the back of vinyl album covers. He has an archive of work online [2] and is active on instagram [3]<p>[1] <a href="https://jonsarkin.com" rel="nofollow">https://jonsarkin.com</a>
[2] <a href="https://archive.jonsarkin.com" rel="nofollow">https://archive.jonsarkin.com</a>
[3] <a href="https://instagram.com/jonsarkin" rel="nofollow">https://instagram.com/jonsarkin</a>
<i>“I figure that it’s better to be a sucker who makes something than a wise guy who is too cautious to make anything at all.”</i><p>It very much frustrates me seeing professionals too timid to click through wizards on something as inconsequential as installing Word. "OK, it says click here to continue. Should I click there?" Even when mentoring new team members, I'm amazed at how afraid they might be to try something in a test environment where they know it doesn't matter if something goes wrong. Sometimes I think I've gotten as far as I have in life because I'm just not afraid to try, and I don't even think of myself as a risk taker.<p>I don't care if you think of yourself as a sucker or as a wise guy. Just make the damn thing (even if you're making mistakes).
If you ever happen to be in Lausanne, Switzerland visit the “Collection de l'Art Brut”…!<p><a href="https://www.artbrut.ch/fr_CH/auteurs/la-collection-de-l-art-brut/darger-henry" rel="nofollow">https://www.artbrut.ch/fr_CH/auteurs/la-collection-de-l-art-...</a>
Henry Darger is one of the most illustrous examples of outsider art <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art</a><p>He held the same job his entire life as a janitor and yet he created a mystical complex world only know by himself.
The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago is small but good. I found Darger's art there captivating and disturbing.<p><a href="https://www.art.org/henrydarger/" rel="nofollow">https://www.art.org/henrydarger/</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vXjwTux8T4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vXjwTux8T4</a> - my intro to Henry Darger which sent me down a rabbit hole on wikipedia
Related:<p><i>In the Realms of the Unreal – Henry Darger's Magnum Opus</i> - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17987678">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17987678</a> - Sept 2018 (1 comment)
I first learnt about Henry Darger in Olivia Laing's <i>The Lonely City</i>. It is a first-hand account of the psychological effects of loneliness and isolation. The author draws parallels between her own experience and that of other artists like Darger, and describes the way in which this experience can drive their creative process.
I don't believe he's credited for it, but the cover for the Melvin's Houdini album is drawn from his art<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdini_(album)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdini_(album)</a>
Also a song about him <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/song/henry-darger-mt0054857381" rel="nofollow">https://www.allmusic.com/song/henry-darger-mt0054857381</a>
Much more detail on wikipedia [0]<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger</a>