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When I first discovered Ian Brownlee, I found his images to be penetrating – much like a song you wake up singing the next day. The images from Brownlee’s “American Myths” series seem to remain fixed in my mind. These sometimes Darger-esque images have a sweet and gentle surface that appears to hide a deeper, stranger, perhaps darker evocation.

“Elisha Mitchell’s Funeral” Ian Brownlee, acrylic on canvas, 60×48, 2009

Brownlee uses the term “myth” in it’s widest sense. I had an opportunity to ask Brownlee about his work. He explained “I’ve spent a lot of time in in southeast and the west, studying the land and its history. Mythology refers not just to stories but to whole mindsets and outlooks full of unquestioned assumptions. Some of the works reference well-known myths, others point out and make fun of those unquestioned assumptions. Others are just strange and funny, but you find that in mythology too.”

“The works on paper from the American Myths series were definitely inspired by Henry Darger. I began the series as large paintings on canvas, painted somewhat realistically. But then looking back at my sketches, they seemed to have a freshness that was missing in the larger pieces. So I decided to do something Darger-esque with them. Those pieces are smaller, they’re on paper, and they rely on outline. I’m now in the process of painting larger versions of some of them.”

“Elisha Mitchell‘s Funeral” (pictured above) relates to an interesting historical figure. Professor Elisha Mitchell, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was one of the first white men to discover the great and mysterious “Black Mountains” of North Carolina rich with dark balsam forests, reminiscent of the last ice age. Though native feet had tread these mountains for 15,000 years, the region was still considered “undiscovered” by the “new world”.

The brave yet tragic tale involves a great dispute between two men over which peaks were highest and who discovered them first. Mitchell made daring journeys often climbing on his hands and knees through miles of tunnel like, 3 foot high black bear trails through dense thickets up steep and slippery slopes in order to reach and measure the peaks. Ultimately, Elisha Mitchell lost his life in the effort to prove his claims. On June 27, 1857 at approximately 8:19 PM Elisha Mitchell slipped on a rocky ledge above a 20 ft waterfall (now called Mitchell Falls) and fell to his death. He hit his head as he fell and drowned in the deep cold pool below. But, Mitchell had successfully measured the highest peak east of the Rockies, and the mountain now bares his name.

Brownlee’s clean and simple imagery evokes for us the not so clean, and not so simple landscape of “American Myths”.

“Special Delivery” Ian Brownlee, acrylic on paper, 8×10, 2007

“Dying Words” Ian Brownlee, acrylic on paper, 22×30, 2007

Artist Ian Brownlee, Asheville, NC

More:
IanBrownlee.us
WNC Magazine article on Ian Brownlee
Gallery Minerva – Ian Brownlee

Considering the work of Henry Darger, it strikes me that we live in a world full of secrets.  Occasionally, one gets out.

It was on the day after his birthday, and the last day of his life, that the reclusive hospital janitor’s extraordinary secret life was discovered…

Illustration from The Story of the Vivian Girls by Henry Darger (Click to enlarge)

Henry Darger was born in 1892, and after his parents died at a young age, he was raised in an “Asylum for Feeble Minded Children”.  At the asylum he was subject to harsh punishments and forced labor and ultimately escaped a year before the asylum was investigated for abuse.  Once free, he found work as a janitor, attended daily Catholic Mass and lived a quiet solitary life in which almost no one knew him or noticed him.

On April 13th, 1973, the last day of Henry Darger’s life, landlord (and accomplished photographer), Nathan Lerner opened the door to the small second story Chicago apartment where Darger had lived in solitude for 40 years.  At that time, Darger had been moved to the St. Augustine Mission because of his failing health.  Among Darger’s personal affects, Lerner uncovered several astounding works of literature and hundreds of works of art, all created in secret by Henry Darger.
Among these were:

• a 15,000 page work of fantasy fiction called 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;
• a 5,000 page autobiography entitled The History of my Life;
• a 10-year daily weather journal;
• assorted diaries;
• a 10,000 page novel entitled Crazy House
• Several hundred original illustrations and water color paintings depicting the plight of young children against oppressive and evil adults.

Darger’s images were often violent, even brutal, displaying the torture and murder of the children in his stories.  They can also be very colorful, playful, sincere and innocent.  Darger surely drew upon his life experiences in the asylum.  His unique style has given rise to the term “Dargerism”.  The American Folk Art Museum calls Darger “one of the most significant artists of the twentieth century”.

Nathan Lerner, Darger’s landlord, “was inextricably bound up in the history of visual culture in Chicago” (according to the New York Times), and instantly recognized the artistic merit of Darger’s compositions.  It was a truly remarkable coincidence that someone, such as Lerner, should be the first to see Darger’s secret works.  Under most other circumstances all of his artwork and stories would surely have been lost forever.  Nathan Lerner, and his wife Kiyoko, gained the rights to Darger’s estate and have brought the world’s attention to it.  Since Lerner’s discovery, Darger’s artwork has achieved wide acclaim as  “outsider art“.  His stories and paintings (and mental status) have become the subject of books and documentary films.

In The Story of The Vivian Girls, we come to learn that the Earth is actually orbiting a larger planet, much as the moon orbits the Earth.  It is upon this larger world that Darger’s story takes place.  I believe that for Darger, the inner fantasy world was larger than his reality, and his reality simply orbited this other, more important fantasy world.  In Darger’s world, abused children are avenged and innocence conquers all.

Darger’s body now rests in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois, in a plot called “The Old People of the Little Sisters of the Poor Plot.” Darger’s modest headstone is inscribed “Artist” and “Protector of Children.”

Several examples of Darger’s larger works (click to enlarge):

More:
Henry Darger – American Folk Art Museum
In the Realms of the Unreal – Documentary Trailer
In the Realms of the Unreal – Part 1 on PBS
Vivian Girls Tattoo on The Awesome Summer Journal

Also, take a look at these Darger-inspired works by Ian Brownlee, here on SpillSpace

OK, so you want to join the blogosphere and you need to decide whether to use WordPress or Blogger.  Which of the two most popular web-log platforms should you choose? I’ll give you the short answer and the long answer.

The short answer is…  WordPress.

Now the long answer:

Over the years I’ve managed a number of blogs for various purposes, and have mostly used Google’s free service, Blogger.  I’ve long been a big fan and proponent of all things Google.  Truth be known, I’m impartial towards Google.  I love Gmail, Blogger (Blogspot), Google Talk, Google Finance, Google Books, Google News, Google Maps, etc… Several months ago I decided to investigate WordPress.  Honestly, at first, I didn’t like it much at all.  But, like many worthwhile things, there was a bit of a learning curve and once that was overcome, I fell in love with WordPress.

Like Blogger, WordPress has a convenient theme/templating system which makes it easy to change the look and feel of your site without editing code.  More advanced users can create or edit templates using HTML or PHP.  WordPress is opensource and as such has a seemingly unlimited variety of themes, templates, plugins and widgets available from the WordPress community.  WordPress also sports integrated link management; a search engine-friendly, clean permalink structure; the ability to assign nested, multiple categories to articles; multiple author capability; and support for tagging of posts and articles.  WordPress also supports the Trackback and Pingback standards for displaying links to other sites that have themselves linked to a post or article.

Like Blogger, WordPress is free and though most people will choose to run it from thier host’s server, it doesn’t require you to have a hosting service or domain name.   If you take your blogging seriously and have even a modicum of dedication to learning new things, you will benefit most from WordPress.  On the other hand, if all you want is a quick and easy blog, and you don’t have the time or energy to bother with a learning curve, are not placing your professional reputation at stake  and just want an insta-blog that is as easy to use as your email account, then Blogger may be your better choice.

WordPress is uniquely flexible and responsive to new trends.  In fact, WordPress can even have you Twitter lovers microblogging from your iPod in no time with their new P2 theme.

In the interest of fairness, I should note that there are other blogging platforms, such as Movable Type, and TypePad.  I am not familiar with these and so chose to focus only on the 2 most popular blogging platforms. If you would like a more complete list of all that is available, click here.

More:
WordPress.org
Blogger.com

Every aircraft in the world is represented by a small yellow dot on this video.

Mesmerizing to watch.

Try it fullscreen with the lights out for the best effect.   😉