Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Folk Art Environments

by Mark Sloan, Roger Manley, Jonathan Williams (Introduction)

The works depicted in Self-Made Worlds - some very well-known, others presented for the first time - challenge long-standing ideas about what art is and what it can be. From Le Palais Ideal, built in a small French village by the mailman Cheval, to the Hubcap Ranch by Litto Damonte of California, to Nek Chand's hundreds of human and animal sculptures made from waste and recycled materials and set in a massive landscaped rock garden in northwest India, Self-Made Worlds is an international tour of some of the most remarkable manifestations of the idiosyncratic, eccentric glory of the human imagination. Ever since the first cave dweller decorated the walls with charcoal and ocher, people have sought to elaborate on their immediate surroundings in ways that balance the relationships between themselves and the world they live in. Scattered across the globe are remarkable individuals variously termed "outsiders, " "obsessive visionaries, " and "folk artists, " for whom the everyday conventions of modern society not apply. These unique individuals and the environments they create are celebrated in Self-Made Worlds.

Genres: Art, Photography

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 1997

Reviews

[jimtown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book to read about Vollis Simpson, the creator of whirly-gigs and windmills. The book only briefly touched on him, and didn't even have a photo of him which was disappointing. He was a fascinating man. But there are many other stories and people to learn about here. People with vision and dreams. I can imagine a sequel to this book, and if there is, I hope they will index the places they've visited or at least tell us at the beginning of each new story where the visions can be seen. Great idea for a book.

[Kitap Yakıcı · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging, colorful, and sympathetic look at environments and installations by various "outsider" and "visionary" artists. Whether using concrete, donated paint, coral limestone, broken pottery, discarded bottles, or other detritus of contemporary life, the untutored artists in this collection all transformed their immediate and mundane surroundings into strange, beautiful, otherworldly landscapes that challenge, inspire, and provoke. Using the alchemy of raw creativity, the folks in this book have transformed histories of child abuse, racism, abandonment, home sickness, mental illness, and religious fervor into visions of beauty, hope, and redemption. This collection invites the reader to participate in this transformation, if only through glimpses of what is possible when someone decides to create, whatever the limitations and challenges imposed by circumstance. The lack of depth in exploring individual artists and their work is more than made up for by the breadth of artists and art that the book showcases.