Henry Darger’s Transexual Heroes « Urban Molecule

Henry Darger’s Transexual Heroes

27May08

The Andrew Edlin Gallery in Manhattan is hosting a spectacular exhibition of Henry Darger’s works through Saturday, June 7. As the poster child for “outsider” art (in which brilliant artists are discovered post mortem), this Einstein of the art world was a recluse between the ages of 19 and 81, developing in his Chicago apartment a truly fascinating response to his own childhood torment and family betrayal.

One has to wonder what went through the minds of landlords Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner as they found the astonishing lot of works left behind by Darger in his second-floor room on Chicago’s North Side. His death in 1973 would have gone largely unnoticed, due to his lifelong reclusivity, but thanks to two distinguished lovers of art, In the Realms of the Unreal has turned out to be one of the most intriguing, mysterious, and inspiring collections of writing and art in recent history. Urban Molecule’s own Skyler Chen went on record during an April THINKTANK interview, admitting Darger was his favorite artist. And in retrospect, one can clearly see the similarities between In the Realms and Chen’s The Republic of Norman.

But who was Darger? And what might have possessed the 19-year old to “forget the world” and set out to write what would amount to 15,000 pages (front and back, single-spaced) and 300 illustrations dipicting a child slave rebellion and the epic war between nations that ensued?

Having lost his mother and baby sister simultaneously, he was deprived of all female role models at a very young age, and because his father couldn’t handle raising him alone, he was then admitted to an institution for boys. He finally freed himself after six escape attempts from the Lincoln asylum (known for its physical and emotional abuse), and during his walk back to Chicago witnessed a tornado as it devestated the south-central Illinois area (perhaps one inspiration for his “Escape During Violent Storm…” in which naked children run from ominous cloud formations in the distance).

Darger entertained a host of interesting characters in his works. The fact that his Vivian “girls” are transexual in appearance, for example (clearly possessing traits of both boys and girls, including ponytails and penises), suggests a unique outlook on gender. Much controversy has surrounded the possible origin of this particular artistic expression, including the possibility of not having ever seen a girl in real life and therefore not able to distinguish between male and female (a notion that has since been dismissed).

Along with Andrew Edlin Gallery, PBS released a site dedicated to the reemergence of Darger’s works in 2005. The site includes an audio tour of the American Folk Art Museum’s exhibit In the Realms of the Unreal, an exclusive interview of Jessica Yu’s acclaimed documentary of the same name, and “The Frightful Storm,” a collection of Darger’s writings examined by Chicago-based author Michael Bonesteel.

Adrew Edlin Gallery is located at 529 West 20th Street, 10th Floor in Manhattan. You can see the Henry Darger exhibit Thursday through Saturday, 11am to 6pm. The show closes Saturday, June 7.

Other Reading:
A Village Voice companion piece to Darger (2002)
John M. MacGregor’s telling of Darger’s masterpiece (REVIEW)