Collecting Madness: Outsider Art from the Dammann Collection, by Thomas Röske, Bettina Brand-Claussen, Gerhard Dammann and others. Catalog by the Prinzhorn Collection, 224 pages, 101 illustrations, 2006. ISBN: 3-88423-265-7 It may seem like a cheap shot to call this volume schizophrenic, but between its own punning title and its divided sense of purpose, the description is irresistible. “Collecting Madness” refers both to the mania of acquisition and to a particular exhibit of a German collection focused on work by artists with histories of mental problems and confinement in asylums. The catalog itself is divided by an abrupt transition halfway through,
Continue readingBook Review: The Air Loom and Other Dangerous Influencing Machines
Book Review: The Air Loom and Other Dangerous Influencing Machines, by Thomas Röske, Bettina Brand-Claussen and others. Catalog by the Prinzhorn Collection, 256 pages, 92 illustrations, 2006. ISBN: 3-88423-237-1. This book, also a catalog for an exhibit at the Prinzhorn Collection, is even more focused on psychiatric issues than the Collecting Madness volume. In an earlier time that could have been problematic, but the success of Dubuffet and his followers in liberating the art from its psychiatric context actually makes it easier to appreciate the insights. Although there is still plenty to debate relating to terminology and the significance of
Continue readingMy Weekly Credo
The more you like a politician or actor, the less you should want to know real personal information about them.
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The worse the idea, the more you’ll hear it has potential.
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The person who tells others not to be crabby is usually the crabbiest one in the room.
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The more fascinating I find a topic, the more I assume the person I’m discussing it with could care less.
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Bureaucracy is the most practical cure for irreconcilable differences.
Continue readingRoot Beer Redux: New taste test results
Having last tasted root beers in 1995, we recently did an abbreviated update. The best: Chicago’s own Berghoff. The biggest surprise: Improved performance by A&W.
Continue readingMore Wacky Names From All Over
A new treasury of oddball store names from around the world.
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