CARLO TORRIGHELLI – C.T. 1909-1983 | ITALY Carlo Torrighelli, better known as C.T., was an “ante-litteram writer”, active in Milan especially near Castello Sforzesco and Porta Garibaldi Station, at the end of 1970. He was born in Laveno (Lake Maggiore), in 1909. Active in the Resistance as a young man, he moved to Milan after […]
Martin Thompson
MARTIN THOMPSON (1955, NUOVA ZELANDA) Nato a Wellington, in Nuova Zelanda, nel 1955, Martin Thompson è un artista autodidatta e matematico.Incapace di trovare occupazione e in gravi problemi economici, Martin riesce a sopravvivere grazie al beneficio sanitario del governo e per alcuni lavori da falegname, mestiere imparato in giovane età. Proprio da giovane Thompson ha […]
MARTIN THOMPSON
MARTIN THOMPSON (1955, NEW ZELAND) Born in Wellington, New Zeland, in 1955, Martin Thompson is a self-taught artist and mathematician.Straddling the poverty line and unable to manage employment, he survived through support from a government health benefit and his own opportunistic salvaging of demolition wood. Timber became one of Thompson’s greatest passions after being trained […]
JOAQUIM VICENS GIRONELLA
JOAQUIM VICENS GIRONELLA 1911-1997 | SPAIN Joaquim Vicens Gironella was born in Agullana, in Catalonia, near the French border. As most of his family worked as cork makers, he was initiated to the same craft. During his adolescence he wrote articles and poems celebrating the qualities of cork oak for local press. He also wrote […]
ALBERT MOUHADEB
1952 | ISRAEL Albert Mouhadeb was born in 1952 in Lebanon and was brought up by his parents as the sixth of seven children. In 1970 the family immigrated to Israel. After spending some time in a Kibbutz he was recruited to the army and after two years released on health grounds. He then became […]
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein
EUGENE VON BRUENCHENHEIN (1910-1983, USA) Eugene von Bruenchenhein è nato e cresciuto a Marinette (Wisconsin), dove ha trascorso gran parte della sua vita lavorando in una panetteria. Senza speranze di successo, l’artista autodidatta ha sviluppato una tecnica pittorica unica: usando le dita per manipolare rapidamente la pittura ad olio, ha creato turbinii magici e colpi […]
EUGENE VON BRUENCHENHEIN
EUGENE VON BRUENCHENHEIN (1910-1983, USA) Eugene von Bruenchenhein was born and grew up in Marinette (Wisconsin), where he spent most of his working life employed in a bakery. Ever hopeful of success, the self-taught artist developed his own unique painting technique: using his fingers to rapidly manipulate the thin wet oil paint, he created magical swirls […]
PEARL FRYAR
PEARL FRYAR 1940- | USA Pearl Fryar started making his Topiary Garden in 1984 in a successful bid to win a prestigious local competition. He taught himself to prune and shape the trees and shrubs he had planted in his 3 acre garden, using a petrol-driven hedge trimmer and starting with a few plants. Working […]
MOTOOKA HIDENORI
MOTOOKA HIDENORI (1978, JAPAN) Motooka Hidenori was born in Hyôgo district and now lives in Kôbe, in Japan. As a small child, he was intrigued by trains. He often goes to the railway station to photograph them, always front view, and then files the photographs with great care. As soon as a new model comes […]
Motooka Hidenori
MOTOOKA HIDENORI (1978, GIAPPONE) Motooka Hidenori è nato nel distretto di Hyogo e ora vive a Kobe, in Giappone. Sin da piccolo era affascinato dai treni. Tutt’ora va spesso a fotografarli alla stazione ferroviaria, sempre riprendendoli frontalmente, schedandoli successivamente con grande meticolosità. Non appena un nuovo modello entra in servizio, questo diventa il soggetto della […]
A.C.M.
1951 | FRANCE A very shy child, born in Hargicourt, France, Alfred Marié passed his school certificate to become a house painter. In 1968 he entered the Ecole Régionale Supérieure d’Expression Plastique in Tourcoing. After five years, he abandoned his studies, destroyed his work and attempted suicide. In 1974 he met Corinne, who became his […]
THE OWL HOUSE – HELEN MARTINS
THE OWL HOUSE – HELEN MARTINS (1898-1976, AFRICA) Helen Martins was born in 1897 in Nieu Bethedsa, South Africa, the youngest of six children. She gained a teaching diploma after attending school in Graaff-Reinet and in 1919 moved to the Transvaal to begin working as a teacher.In 1920 Helen married a fellow teacher, Willem Johannes […]
The Owl House – Helen Martins
THE OWL HOUSE – HELEN MARTINS (1898-1976, AFRICA) Helen Martins è nata nel 1897 a Nieu Bethedsa, Sud Africa, la più giovane di sei figli. Ha conseguito il diploma per l’insegnamento dopo aver frequentato la scuola di Graaff-Reinet e nel 1919 si trasferisce a Transvaal per iniziare a lavorare come docente.Nel 1920 Helen sposa un […]
THORNTON DIAL
THORNTON DIAL (1928-2016, USA) Thornton Dial was born in 1928 to a poor family in rural Alabama. He was expected to work from an early age to support his unmarried mother. Having received minimal education, he worked tirelessly at many jobs until his retirement at the age of 55 in 1983. He admits that although […]
Thornton Dial
THORNTON DIAL (1928-2016, USA) Thornton Dial è nato nel 1928 da una povera famiglia proveniente dall’Alabama. Sin da giovane ha dovuto lavorare per sostenere economicamente la madre non sposata. Dopo aver ricevuto una minima formazione, lavorò instancabilmente in molti posti, fino all’età del pensionamento, nel 1983. Ha sempre creato opere d’arte, anche prima della pensione, […]
MELINA RICCIO
MELINA RICCIO (1951, ITALY) Carmela “Melina” Riccio, was born in 1951, in Ariano Irpino (Italy). Until the age of 33 she spent a common life taking care of her three children; she had worked as a modeller.In 1983, during the MACEF fair (International Home Show), she exhibited her realization, a bedspread with hand-painted lampshades and […]
Melina Riccio
MELINA RICCIO (1951, ITALIA) Carmela “Melina” Riccio, è nata nel 1951, ad Ariano Irpino (Italia). Fino all’età di 33 anni conduce una vita comune occupandosi dei suoi tre figli e lavorando come modellista.Nel 1983, durante la fiera MACEF (Salone Internazionale della Casa), ha esposto la sua realizzazione, un copriletto con paralumi dipinti a mano e […]
TOMOYUKI SHINKI
TOMOYUKI SHINKI (1982, JAPAN) Tomoyuki Shinki was born in 1982 in Osaka. He’s an avid fan of combat sports, like wrestling and boxing, judo and Muay Thai.Shinki uses a computer to draw contorted opponens, sometimes black and white but more often vividly colored. In bold cartoonish scenes, Shinki’s fighters punch, grab, pull, smash, and flip […]
Tomoyuki Shinki
TOMOYUKI SHINKI (1982, GIAPPONE) Tomoyuki Shinki è nato nel 1982 a Osaka. Da sempre è un fan accanito di sport da combattimento, come il wrestling e la boxe, il judo e Muay Thai.Shinki utilizza un computer per disegnare i lottatori contorti, a volte dipinti successivamente in bianco e nero, ma più spesso vivacemente colorati. Nelle […]
Lubos Plny
LUBOS PLNY (1961, REPUBBLICA CECA) Luboš Plný è figlio unico di una madre possessiva. Sin da bambino è stato attratto da due elementi: l’arte grafica e l’anatomia. Era solito sezionare animali morti e, in età adulta, ha partecipato ad una serie di autopsie su cadaveri umani.Dopo aver lasciato la scuola elementare, incominciò un apprendistato per […]
LUBOS PLNY
LUBOS PLNY (1961, CZECH REPUBLIC) Luboš Plný is the only child of a possessive mother. Already as a child he was drawn to two phenomena : graphic art and anatomy. He used to dissect dead animals and in adulthood attended a number of autopsies on human corpses.After leaving elementary school he went into apprenticeship to […]
EDWARD JAMES | LAS POZAS
1907-1984 | Mexico L’imponente costruzione denominata Las Pozas è situata nella giungla messicana ed è stata ideata da un eccentrico aristocratico inglese, Edward James. Poeta e mecenate a stretto contatto con i surrealisti, James si innamorò di questa zona isolata durante un viaggio nel 1945 a Xilitla. Nel 1962 James fu in grado di iniziare la costruzione di un magico […]
VILJO GUSTAFSSON
VILJO GUSTAFSSON 1927-1994 | FINLAND Viljo Gustafsson lived an isolated life in a small cottage in Karkkila, Finland. A labourer who suffered from alcoholism, Gustafsson was familiar with social misery and loneliness. Art was a means to ease his condition allowing him to explore the misery of life and death remaining an ambivalent figure, represented […]
SHOTA KATSUBE
SHOTA KATSUBE | JAPAN Shota Katsube is a not well known Japanese Outsider artist whose medium of choice is the humble twist tie. Shota has been able to turn the common kitchen stample into action figures, manga mechs, robots and other different characters. This figures are really small but quite detailed. Shota Katsube’s wire action […]
JANKO DOMSIC
JANKO DOMSIC (1915-1983, CROATIA) We know almost nothing of Janko Domsic’s life or the circumstances of his arrival in France. He probably spent some time in prison. He might have lived in Toul, in Meurthe-et-Moselle, and in 1935 worked on the construction of a railroad in Pont-sur-Yvonne. Janko Domsic probably received elementary education. When in […]
Janko Domsic
JANKO DOMSIC (1915-1983, CROAZIA) Non sappiamo quasi nulla della vita di Janko Domsic o delle circostanze del suo arrivo in Francia. Probabilmente ha trascorso un periodo in prigione. Ha forse vissuto a Toul, Meurthe-et-Moselle, e nel 1935 avrebbe lavorato alla costruzione di una ferrovia a Pont-sur-Yvonne. Janko Domsic ha probabilmente ricevuto un’istruzione elementare. Il periodo […]
DANIELLE JACQUI
DANIELLE JACQUI 1934- | FRANCE Danielle Jacqui was born in 1934 in Nice, to a jeweler father and a militant communist mother. The early 1970s were a founding period for Jacqui. She met Claude Leclercq, her second husband, who became a close companion in her artistic career until his death in 2000. A fellow […]
ALBERT LOUDEN
1943 | ENGLAND Albert Louden, a former van driver and weight-lifter, was born in Blackpool, England, during the Second World War. He left school at fifteen with no qualifications and worked in a series of driving-related jobs. He didn’t have any aspirations to become an artist, but recalls a day in primary school when the […]
ELLEN GREENE
ELLEN GREENE 1975-| AMERICA “I see the gloves as representative of social norms– conformity and chastity. The tattoo images represent the underside or shadow experience of that woman who wore those gloves.” Ellen Greene “Vedo i guanti come rappresentanti delle regole di vita sociali di conformità e castità. I tatuaggi rappresentano le ombre della donna […]
EUGENIO SANTORO
EUGENIO SANTORO (1920-2006, ITALY) Eugenio Santoro was born in Castelmezzano in Lucanie, a region in southern Italy. After five years of elementary schooling he undertook an apprenticeship as a joiner. At the age of 20 he left for the front in Albania and Greece, where he was taken prisoner, then deported to a prisoner-of-war camp […]
Eugenio Santoro
EUGENIO SANTORO (1920-2006, ITALIA) Eugenio Santoro è nato a Castelmezzano, Lucania. Dopo cinque anni di scuola elementare intraprese un apprendistato per diventare falegname. All’età di 20 anni partì per la guerra, in Albania e in Grecia, dove fu fatto prigioniero e deportato in un campo in Renania nel 1943. Liberato due anni più tardi, tornò […]
BILLY TRIPP
BILLY TRIPP 1955- | AMERICA William Blevins (Billy) Tripp, born 1955 in Jackson, Tennessee, is a nationally known practitioner of outsider art as well as the author of numerous poems and a novel, “The Mindfield Years”, published in 1996. He’s the creator of “The Mindfield”, the largest work in progress and outdoor sculpture in Tennessee. […]
Takashi Shuji
TAKASHI SHUJI (1974, GIAPPONE) Takashi Shuji è nato nel 1974 nella prefettura di Hyogo, Giappone. Attualmente vive con la sua famiglia nella città di Nishinomiya. Dopo aver terminato gli studi in una scuola specializzata (è affetto da sindrome di Down), all’età di diciotto anni, frequenta la Suzukake Institution, uno stabilimento di Kôbé che dà lavoro […]
TAKASHI SHUJI
TAKASHI SHUJI (1974, JAPAN) Takashi Shuji was born in 1974 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. He currently lives with his family in the town of Nishinomiya. After finishing his education in a specialist school (he has Down’s Syndrome), at the age of eighteen, he attended the Suzukake Institution, an establishment providing work for the mentally handicapped […]
PASCAL TASSINI
PASCAL TASSINI 1955-| BELGIUM Pascal Tassini was born in Belgium in 1955 in a family of three children. He lived with his parents until they died, when one of his brothers took responsibility for him and sent him to the Créahm workshops in Liège in 1986. Tassini began working with clay before trying his hand […]
BRUNO WEBER
BRUNO WEBER 1931-2011 | SWITZERLAND Bruno Weber was born in 1931 in Dietikon, Switzerland, and grew up in a large Baroque house which, he recalled, had “many mysterious rooms [which] had never really been explored”. The experience, he said, made a lasting impression on his imagination. At the age of 12 he began painting with […]
EVELYNE POSTIC
EVELYNE POSTIC (1951, FRANCE) Evelyne Postic (born Mazaloubaud) was born in 1951 at the Hotel Dieu Lyon, France. Dancing, her first love, it was canceled due to a serious lung disease that struck her at 5. In addition, the separation of her parents made her a strong sense of abandonment. She was able to escape […]
Evelyne Postic
EVELYNE POSTIC (1951, FRANCIA) Evelyne Postic (nata Mazaloubaud) è nata nel 1951 a Lione, Francia. La danza fu il suo primo amore, ma fu un sogno cancellato a causa di una grave malattia polmonare che la colpì a 5 anni. Inoltre la separazione dei suoi genitori la fece soffrire di un forte senso di abbandono. […]
TOM DUNCAN
1939 | SCOTLAND/USA “I was born in Scotland at the start of World War II; growing up I wasn’t aware that anything was wrong. If I had been born in peacetime maybe I would have noticed a difference. When I went to school my history lessons just confirmed that war was a natural phenomenon. My […]
J.J. Cromer
J.J. CROMER (1967, USA) L’artista autodidatta J.J. Cromer , nato nel 1967 , ha trascorso gran parte della sua vita nella zona degli Appalachi. Ora vive in una piccola fattoria a Pound, Virginia, dove alleva anatre e oche con la moglie. Dopo aver conseguito un master in scrittura creativa, ha lavorato come bibliotecario.Nel 1998, frustrato […]
J.J. CROMER
J.J. CROMER (1967, USA) The self-taught artist J.J. Cromer, born in 1967, spent most of his life in central Appalachia. Now he live on a small farm in Pound, Virginia, where he raise ducks and geese with his wife. He had a master’s degree in creative writing and he worked as a librarian.From 1998, frustrated […]
FRÉDÉRIC BRULY BOUABRÉ
FRÉDÉRIC BRULY BOUABRÉ 1923-2014 | AFRICA Frédéric Bruly Bouabré was born in Zéprégüe, Côte d’Ivorie, in 1923. He lived and worked in the Ivory Coast capital of Abidjan. His studies were interrupted early because he needed to find a job that would allow him to survive; he worked as a civil servant until March 11, […]
ROSA ZHARKIKH
ROSA ZHARKIKH (1930, RUSSIA) Rosa Zharkikh was born in Moscow in 1930. Her mother was a teacher and her father an engineer, but Zharkikh dropped out of high school and graduated from a vocational school that specialized in training blue-collar workers.For all of her adult life, Rosa has worked in a factory. She spent most […]
Rosa Zharkikh
ROSA ZHARKIKH (1930, RUSSIA) Rosa Zharkikh è nata a Mosca nel 1930. Sua madre era una insegnante e suo padre un ingegnere, ma Zharkikh ha abbandonato la scuola superiore e si è laureata in una scuola professionale per la formazione degli operai.Per tutta la sua vita, Rosa ha lavorato in fabbrica. Ha trascorso la maggior […]
XIE HONG
XIE HONG (1959, CHINA) Xie Hong was born in Beijing in 1959, and she spent her working life as a librarian. To alleviate her chronic depression, in 2007, she began to draw compulsively.For the following two years, the several hours used for drawings, relieved her suffering and brought her some well-being. By 2009, her lines […]
Xie Hong
XIE HONG (1959, CINA) Xie Hong è nata a Pechino nel 1959, e ha trascorso la sua vita lavorando come bibliotecaria. Per alleviare la sua depressione cronica, nel 2007, ha iniziato a disegnare compulsivamente.Per i due anni successivi, le varie ore passate a disegnare, hanno alleviato la sua sofferenza e le hanno concesso un po’ […]
VEIJO RÖNKKÖNEN
VEIJO RÖNKKÖNEN 1944–2010 | FINLAND Veijo Rönkkönen was born in 1944, and he has lived all of his life in an isolated farm in Parikkala, Finland, near the Russian border. Here he has build a garden inhabitated by nearly five hundred human figures made of concrete. At his 16th, Veijo went to work in a […]
RALHI (AOUAM ABDELARRAZZAK)
RALHI – AOUAM ABDELARRAZZAK (1956, MOROCCO) Aouam Abdelarrazzak, nicknamed Ralhi (“Big Father”), was born in Khoribga, a mining town south of Casablanca. First he worked as a mechanic on trucks in a printing company, but the closing of the plant, the failure of his marriage and his imprisonment for manslaughter plunged him into deep distress […]
Ralhi
RALHI – AOUAM ABDELARRAZZAK (1956, MAROCCO) Aouam Abdelarrazzak, soprannominato Ralhi (“Grande Fratello”), è nato a Khoribga, una città mineraria a sud di Casablanca. Inizialmente ha lavorato come meccanico in una società di stampa, ma la chiusura dello stabilimento, il fallimento del suo matrimonio e la reclusione per omicidio colposo provocano in lui un immenso disagio […]
ARTHUR BISPO DO ROSÁRIO
ARTHUR BISPO DO ROSÁRIO 1910-1989 | BRASIL During five decades of hospitalization in an asylum of Rio de Janeiro, Arthur Bispo do Rosario has produced over eight hundred tapestries, sculptures and magnificent ceremonial robes for the Last Judgement. Former as a midshipman who lived in Rio doing odd jobs, in 1938, Bispo had a vision: […]
J.J. SEINEN
J.J. SEINEN (1934-2013, NETHERLANDS) José Johann Seinen was born in the Netherlands in 1934. During the Nazi Occupation, his parents were suspected of collaborating with the Germans and were imprisoned; José and his five brothers were placed in the custody of their grandparents, who lived in Amsterdam. There he began drawing tirelessly: exercise books designed […]
HORST ADEMEIT
HORST ADEMEIT (1937-2010, GERMANY) Horst Ademeit was born in Cologne in 1937. Trained as a textile designer, he entered Joseph Beuys’ class at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf in the late 1960. Here his works were rejected because too conservative and academic; this fact led him to left the total art world. Thereafter Ademeit supported himself […]
Horst Ademeit
HORST ADEMEIT (1937-2010, GERMANIA) Horst Ademeit è nato a Colonia nel 1937. Formatosi come designer tessile, frequentò i corsi tenuti da Joseph Beuys alla Kunstakademie di Düsseldorf dal 1960. Qui le sue opere furono respinte perché troppo conservatrici e accademiche; questo fatto lo ha portato a lasciare l’intero mondo artistico. Successivamente Ademeit si è sostenuto […]
J. J. Seinen
J.J. SEINEN (1934-2013, OLANDA) José Johann Seinen è nato in Olanda nel 1934. Durante l’occupazione nazista i suoi genitori, sospettati di collaborazionismo con i tedeschi, furono imprigionati; José e i suoi cinque fratelli vennero dati in custodia ai nonni che vivevano ad Amsterdam. Lì iniziò a disegnare instancabilmente: quaderni progettati come libri pop-up pieni di […]
MR. IMAGINATION
1948-2012 | USA Gregory Warmack è nato nel 1948 a Chicago, terzo di nove figli e ha trascorso la sua infanzia nella degradata South Side di Chicago. Collezionista incallito di pietre, perline, bigiotteria e miriadi di oggetti inutilizzati, Warmack ha iniziato a creare e vendere gioielli nella tarda adolescenza. Scolpiva anche pezzi di corteccia, legno […]
Scottie Wilson
SCOTTIE WILSON (LOUIS FREEMAN, 1888-1972, SCOZIA) “Quando dipingo posso vedere cosa succede e posso immaginare cosa succederà.” Scottie Wilson (vero nome, Louis Freeman) è nato nel 1888 da un’umile famiglia di immigrati lituani a Glasgow, Scozia. Da bambino non ha potuto completare gli studi per poter aiutare economicamente la famiglia; in gioventù ha potuto viaggiare […]
SCOTTIE WILSON
SCOTTIE WILSON (LOUIS FREEMAN, 1888-1972, SCOTLAND) “When I’m working I can see what’s happening, and I can imagine what’s going to happen.” Scottie Wilson was born “Louis Freeman” in 1888 to a humble family of Lithuanian immigrants in Glasgow, Scotland. As a child, he didn’t complete many years of schooling in order to helps support […]
ANNUNZIO LAGOMARSINI
ANNUNZIO LAGOMARSINI 1932-| ITALY Annunzio Lagomarsini has worked for many years in the family building company: he taught himself engineering and structural aspects for built several constructions. Since 1977, for seven years, he created his “flying house” near LaSpezia, Liguria, where he lived with his wife. He used rejects from the building sites or […]
DALTON GHETTI
DALTON GHETTI 1961-| AMERICA Dalton Ghetti was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and he came to the U.S. in 1985. He now works as a carpenter and he’s a self-taught artist: he “sharpens” pencils as a meditation. He began learning how to handle tools at the young age of 6 when at […]
Mark Beyer
MARK BEYER (1950, USA) Si conosce poco di Mark Beyer, un fumettista solitario di Bethlem, Pennsylvania. La sua carriera artistica inizia dalle prime pubblicazioni dei suoi fumetti; nonostante una serie di inviti e contributi su vari giornali, la violenza astratta dei soggetti di Beyer e il suo approccio “autodidatta” al disegno, sono rimasti una minoranza. […]
MARK BEYER
MARK BEYER (1950, USA) Biographical details about the reclusive Mark Beyer, from Bethlem, Pennsylvania, remain limited. His artistic career kick-started when his first comic strips were published, leading to a number of invitations to contribute to various titles, however the abstracted violence of Beyer’s subject matter and his “self-taught” approach to drawing, had minority appeal. […]
STANISLAW ZAGAJEWSKI
STANISLAW ZAGAJEWSKI 1927-2008| POLAND Stanislaw Zagajewski was abandoned by his mother at the age of two in front of a Church in Warsaw, Poland. Then he was placed in various orphanages, and he later trained as a mason before being employed in stucco restoration in the old city of Warsaw. Stanislaw Zagajewski è stato abbandonato […]
Richard Nie
RICHARD NIE (1954, INGHILTERRA) Richard Nie è nato in Inghilterra nel 1954. Lasciò la scuola per trovare lavoro in un ufficio e intraprendere piccole mansioni part-time. Crescendo ha iniziato a soffrire di una forte depressione e raramente ha lasciato la famiglia, trascorrendo molto tempo a casa dove, di notte, disegnava e suonava la chitarra.La sua […]
RICHARD NIE
RICHARD NIE (1954, ENGLAND) Richard Nie was born in England in 1954. After leaving secondary school he worked in an office and he embarked on a series of part-time jobs. As a young adult he began to suffer from serious depression and rarely left the family home, spending his nights drawing and playing the guitar, […]
PRADEEP KUMAR
PRADEEP KUMAR 1973-| INDIA Pradeep Kumar grew up in Narwana, India. Born deaf and partially mute, his father was determinate to give his son an education, having sensed Kumar’s innate talent from a very young age. He is presently employed as a clerk at the Punjab National Bank in Narwana. Kumar developed his artistic skills […]
Ionel Talpazan
IONEL TALPAZAN (1955-2015 , ROMANIA) L’artista autodidatta Ionel Talpazan è nato a Petrachioaia, Romania. All’età di 8 anni, in sogno, ha avuto un’esperienza ultrasensoriale in cui ha constatato la presenza di UFO. Da quel momento Ionel ha cercato di spiegare la conoscenza acquisita sulla tecnologia UFO attraverso i suoi disegni.Nel 1987 riesce a scappare dalla […]
IONEL TALPAZAN
IONEL TALPAZAN (1955-2015 , ROMANIA) The self-taught artist Ionel Talpazan was born in Petrachioaia, Romania. When he was 8 years old, he experienced the presence of a UFO while sleeping by a lake close to his home. From this moment on, Ionel explained his knowledge of UFO technology through his drawings.In 1987, he escaped Romania […]
UMBERTO GERVASI
UMBERTO GERVASI 1939-| ITALY Umberto Gervasi was born in Catania, Sicily. His parents were confectioners that produced local sweets sold at popular fairs. At the age of 14 he began working as a bricklayer, and at the age of 28 he moved to Sesto San Giovanni (Milan), where he worked as a metalworker in a […]
ANDRÉ ROBILLARD
ANDRÉ ROBILLARD 1932-| FRANCE André Robillard grew up near Orléans, France. He experienced great behavioural difficulties growing up and at the age of eight he was put in a school attached to a psychiatric hospital. At the age of 19, as a result of mental disturbances, André Robillard was committed to the hospital in Fleury-les-Aubrais: […]
HELMUT
HELMUT (1945, GERMANY) Helmut Nimczewski was born in Heidelberg, Germany, and he was brought up by his mother because he never knew his father.Retarded, probably as a result of brain damage caused by his epilepsy, he was put in several institutions and psychiatric hospital. Then he moved to a sheltered home in Hamburg where he […]
Helmut
HELMUT (1945, GERMANIA) Helmut Nimczewski è nato ad Heidelberg nel 1945, in Germania, cresciuto solo dalla madre, non avendo conosciuto il padre. Ritardato, probabilmente a causa dei danni celebrati dalla sua epilessia, è stato inserito in diverse strutture e ospedali psichiatrici. Successivamente trova casa ad Amburgo, dove ama passeggiare con la sua macchina fotografica. Helmut ama […]
RICHARD GREAVES
RICHARD GREAVES 1952- | CANADA The self-taught artist Richard Greaves was born in the Montreal area in 1952. He studied theology and worked in the hotel business. Since 1989, he has devoted himself to the creation of a huge architectural environment in Beauce, Quebec, that is in constant expansion: Greaves erects cabins that appear to […]
Guo Fengyi
GUO FENGYI (1942-2010, CINA) Guo Fengyi è nata a Xi’an, in Cina, nel 1942. Dopo aver conseguito il diploma di scuola superiore nel 1962, trovò lavoro in una fabbrica di gomma, impiego a cui dovette rinunciare all’età di trentanove anni per numerosi attacchi di artrite.Dopo otto anni di sofferenze, si avvicinò al Qi Gong, una […]
GUO FENGYI
GUO FENGYI (1942-2010, CHINA) Guo Fengyi was born in Xi’an, central China, in 1942. She obtained her high school diploma in 1962 and found work in a rubber factory, career that she was constricted to give up at the age of thirty-nine for several attacks of arthritis.After eight years of suffering, she initiated herself into […]
NEK CHAND
NEK CHAND 1924 – | INDIA Nek Chand Saini is an Indian self-taught artist famous for building the Rock Garden, an eighteen acre sculpture garden in Chandigarh, India. In 1951, Chand moved to Chandigarh to work as a road inspector for the Indian government’s Public Works Department. In 1958, he began collecting shaped rocks, discarded […]
Gregory L. Blackstock
GREGORY L. BLACKSTOCK (1946, USA) L’artista autistico Gregory L. Blackstock, nato a Seattle, ha iniziato a disegnare regolarmente a circa 40 anni, studiando il mondo intorno a sé come un antropologo. La sua memoria prodigiosa gli permette di ricordare visualmente oggetti, composizioni musicali e lingue straniere. Impara copiando ciò che vede, argomento per argomento, pezzo […]
GREGORY L. BLACKSTOCK
GREGORY L. BLACKSTOCK (1946, USA) The Seattle autistic artist Gregory L. Blackstock began drawing regularly in his mid-40s, studying the world around his like an anthropologist. He has a prodigious memory for visual objects, musical tone and compositions, and foreign languages. He learns of his world by replicating it, subject by subject, piece by piece. […]
Miroslav Tichy
MIROSLAV TICHY (1926-2011, REPUBBLICA CECA) Non sono un pittore. Nè uno scultore. Nè uno scrittore. Sono Tarzan in pensione.Miroslav Tichy Miroslav Tichý è stato un fotografo che dal 1960 al 1985 scatto migliaia di immagini di donne nella sua città natale, Kyjow (Repubblica Ceca), con macchine fotografiche artigianali costituite da tubi di cartone, lattine e materiali di […]
MIROSLAV TICHÝ
MIROSLAV TICHY (1926-2011, CZECH REPUBLIC) I am not a painter. Nor a sculptor. Neither a writer. I’m retired Tarzan. Miroslav Tichy Miroslav Tichý was a photographer who from the 1960s until 1985 took thousands of pictures of women in his hometown of Kyjow, in the Czech Republic, where he was born in 1926, using homemade […]
Judith Scott
JUDITH SCOTT (1943-2005, USA) Nata a Cincinnati, Ohio, in una famiglia della media borghesia, a differenza di sua sorella gemella, Judith è affetta dalla sindrome di Down. A seguito di un attacco di scarlattina nella prima infanzia, perde l’udito, anche se questo problema le viene riconosciuto solo molti anni dopo.Considerata “ineducabile”, all’età di sette anni viene privata della […]
JUDITH SCOTT
JUDITH SCOTT (1943-2005, USA) Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, into a middle-class family, unlike her twin sister, Judith carried the extra chromosome of Down syndrome. Following an attack of Scarlet Fever in infancy, she also lost her hearing, although this would not be recognized until many years later. Considered “ineducable”, at the age of seven she […]
ARMAND SCHULTHESS
1901-1972 | SWITZERLAND Swiss born Armand Schulthess attended commercial college before doing an apprenticeship in an import-export company. From 1923 to 1935 owned a firm making women’s clothes in Zurich, then Geneva, which had to close due to economic recession. Subsequently he got a job in the commercial division of the Swiss Federal Department of […]
BEN WILSON
BEN WILSON 1963-| ENGLAND “Out of stillness really, you make something and you don’t impose a thing on the place but it comes out of the place”. “Fuori dalla quiete, tu puoi realizzare qualcosa senza imporre nulla al posto, ma facendolo uscire dal luogo stesso”. The son of an artist, Ben Wilson grew up in […]
Jill Gallieni
JILL GALLIENI (1948, FRANCIA) Jill Galliéni è nata nel 1948 da madre americana e padre francese, un attore. Cresciuta lontano dai suoi genitori, suo padre se ne prese carico all’età di sette anni. Jill realizza da sempre strane bambole di stoffa e verso i trent’anni scopre che le preghiere l’aiutano a ricostruirsi, a trovare una […]
JILL GALLIÉNI
JILL GALLIENI (1948, FRANCE) Jill Galliéni was born in 1948 to an American mother and a French father who was an actor. Brought up away from her parents, her father took over her care when she was seven.Jill always creates strange fabric dolls and turned to prayer towards the age of thirty as a way […]
Shinichi Sawada
(1987, Japan) Shinichi Sawada was born in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Diagnosed as autistic, he found employment in the hospital bakery of the Ritto Nakayoshi Sagyojo (institute for the mentally disabled, in the city of Kusatsu). In 2001, the professor directing the workshop where Sawada worked with clay, launched the construction of a small potter’s cabin: […]
Serge Delaunay
In his works colours are rare: in fact he uses black felt pen on large sheets of paper to draw mainly cars and spaceships. Delaunay is captivated by science, outer space, spacecraft, car mechanics, various architecture e robots.
Morton Bartlett
1909-1992, USA The self-taught artist Morton Bartlett, orphaned at the age of eight – like the compared Henry Darger – was adopted by a wealthy couple of Massachusetts. They permitted him to enrolled at Philipps Exter Academy and Harvard University, that he left for became a freelance photographer. Health problems forced him to give up […]
Curzio Di Giovanni
1957, Italy Curzio di Giovanni was born in 1957, originally from Lodi (Milan region, Italy). An organic infection delays his mental development and forces him to stay in the psychiatric environment for a long time, until he was admitted to a hospital near Pavia in 1979. Here Di Giovanni starts collecting objects, kept in his […]