Outsider Artist Henry Darger: An Interview with Curator Brooke Davis Anderson

In 2005, P.O.V. aired Jessica Yu's film In the Realms of the Unreal. The film is the astounding tale of outsider artist Henry Darger,who, unbeknownst to anyone, had created a 15,000-page novel andhundreds of illustrations that have inspired artists and viewers sincetheir discovery. Three years later, Darger continues to fascinate andastound, and last month, Dargerism: Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger opened at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City.

Dargerism is curated by Brooke Davis Anderson,the director and curator of the Contemporary Center at the AmericanFolk Art Museum. Three years ago, we worked with Brooke on one of ourfavorite website features — an interactive audio tour through several of Darger's works for the P.O.V. In the Realms of the Unreal website.Now Brooke has been kind enough to answer some of our questions aboutthe show at the Folk Art Museum, and Darger's continued hold on ourimaginations.

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Brooke Davis Anderson: The Dargerism showillustrates how Henry Darger has been influential to elevencontemporary artists over the last 25 years. The show examines how oneartist has played a role in contemporary discourse in the art world,but one of the underlying themes of the show is also the self-taughtartist's movement from the periphery of the discourse to the center. Ina way, I'm trying to be playful with this show: I'm suggesting that ifso many artists are influenced by Darger, then he can no longer beconsidered to be on the margins of art history.

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Artists are always struggling with the need to keep their work inthe forefront of their life, the need to not let distractions get inthe way. Darger was so devoted, and I think creative people have agreat admiration in terms of how he worked.

There's also not much out there that's like Darger's 15,000 pagenovel! Because the work was so unknown during his lifetime, no one hasever been able to ask Darger what he was after in his work. So in thatsense, other artists and creative people can put their own stamp on thework.

So it's that combination of the masterfulness of the work, theopportunities for intersections and collaborations with the work, andthe mystery of the work, that makes it so inspiring to others.

Go to the original article for the full interview and to see close-ups of Darger's astounding work.