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George Widener: Secret Universe IV
The fourth volume in a series on outsider artists, providing insight into the complex vision of an artist driven by numbers and data American artist George Widener (born 1962) developed a passion for calendars, numbers and numerology, historical data, population statistics and mathematical calculations early on in life. His clearly structured drawings combine actual historical events with his own computations, analyzing both world affairs and his own biography, and developing codes for super-intelligent computers of the future. Influenced by the theories of Ray Kurzweil, a leading scientist in the field of artificial intelligence, Widener believes that in 2045 high-performance computers will fuse with the human brain and transform consciousness into software. For Widener, numbers and data are part of his inner structure, the fundamental system of his perception of the world. This fourth volume in the Secret Universe series on outsider artists provides insight into Widener’s complex vision, presenting his most important groups of work as well as a series of new autobiographical drawings.
104 pages, Paperback
First published July 31, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 1, 2019
“Autistics are the ultimate square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work. It’s that you’re destroying the peg.” - Paul Collins
“Secret Universe 4” is part of a fantastic art series on artists who work outside the established art system. The three other artists in the series and who have their own books are: Photographer Horst Ademit; Visionary painter Paul Laffoley and Doll Sculptor Morton Bartlett. I plan on buying the other three books after reading this one.
This book focuses on outside artist George Wayne Widener who was born with an autistic disorder (Asperger syndrome) as well as savant skills and his “island of genius” was his massive memory of dates, calendars and numbers. George draws detailed illustrations and calendars that reflect his fascination of historical data. This book is a wonder and I think most people who enjoy looking at outsider art would be interested.
George Widener's early Kentucky childhood in the 1960's was not easy because his family, friends and teachers did not understand exactly what was going on inside his mind. He was obsessively drawing, since he was young, in private notebooks which contained calculations, diagrams, codes and complex words and numbers. He was not sharing this work with many people. He was making charts of future catastrophes using days and dates that aligned with the past. For example, he was drawing shipwrecks especially the Titanic and noting a time line of everything that happened on the boat. (This was thrilling to me because of my personal interest in the Titanic.)
When George was six years old , his parents divorced, and then his father died in 1971 at the age of 41. George was nine years old and two years late his overwhelmed hairdresser mother gave him and his four siblings to his grandmother to raise. In times of stress, George would write down numbers to calm himself down. He graduated high school, joined the Air Force at 18 and served with honor. When he decided to go back to school to study engineering, his life unraveled and he had to drop out. Eventually he became homeless and lived in a mental hospital. His mother died in 1998 and his diagnosis of Asperger's happened late in life when he was almost forty. Around the same time, in 2000, the art world took notice of his outsider visionary works and he had his first exhibitions in the United States.
Especially interesting to me was his process of creating his mixed media work beyond the research of data that he accumulates. George takes old paper napkins and found canvases that he ages with tea and coffee to achieve a aged patina. Then he processes his massive genius flood of information onto the art: historical calendars, old maps; old math books and codes. George loves the study of time and makes magical squares, magical circles and special codes known only to him. George likes to call himself a “time traveler” and its just fascinating to look at a glimpse of his extraordinary mind at work. Five wondrous stars.
“Secret Universe 4” is part of a fantastic art series on artists who work outside the established art system. The three other artists in the series and who have their own books are: Photographer Horst Ademit; Visionary painter Paul Laffoley and Doll Sculptor Morton Bartlett. I plan on buying the other three books after reading this one.
This book focuses on outside artist George Wayne Widener who was born with an autistic disorder (Asperger syndrome) as well as savant skills and his “island of genius” was his massive memory of dates, calendars and numbers. George draws detailed illustrations and calendars that reflect his fascination of historical data. This book is a wonder and I think most people who enjoy looking at outsider art would be interested.
George Widener's early Kentucky childhood in the 1960's was not easy because his family, friends and teachers did not understand exactly what was going on inside his mind. He was obsessively drawing, since he was young, in private notebooks which contained calculations, diagrams, codes and complex words and numbers. He was not sharing this work with many people. He was making charts of future catastrophes using days and dates that aligned with the past. For example, he was drawing shipwrecks especially the Titanic and noting a time line of everything that happened on the boat. (This was thrilling to me because of my personal interest in the Titanic.)
When George was six years old , his parents divorced, and then his father died in 1971 at the age of 41. George was nine years old and two years late his overwhelmed hairdresser mother gave him and his four siblings to his grandmother to raise. In times of stress, George would write down numbers to calm himself down. He graduated high school, joined the Air Force at 18 and served with honor. When he decided to go back to school to study engineering, his life unraveled and he had to drop out. Eventually he became homeless and lived in a mental hospital. His mother died in 1998 and his diagnosis of Asperger's happened late in life when he was almost forty. Around the same time, in 2000, the art world took notice of his outsider visionary works and he had his first exhibitions in the United States.
Especially interesting to me was his process of creating his mixed media work beyond the research of data that he accumulates. George takes old paper napkins and found canvases that he ages with tea and coffee to achieve a aged patina. Then he processes his massive genius flood of information onto the art: historical calendars, old maps; old math books and codes. George loves the study of time and makes magical squares, magical circles and special codes known only to him. George likes to call himself a “time traveler” and its just fascinating to look at a glimpse of his extraordinary mind at work. Five wondrous stars.
May 31, 2016
What a fantastic little collection and introduction to this artist. I saw his work in New Orleans and have been obsessed ever since.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews