The Apocalyptic Art of Norbert Kox
posted by le morte de bea arthur on Aug 14, 2008 - 3 comments

Beyond the Lanes is a website devoted to using old bowling balls for art. Paul Livert is an artist who likes to add metal to old bowling balls. Giant Rosaries made of bowling balls. Bowling balls can be used to demonstrate scientific principles, as in this huge Newton’s Cradle. Nowata, Oklahoma boasts a bowling ball fence. Bowling balls also make useful cannon balls, as well as durable dog toys. (YouTube)
posted by Tube on Apr 4, 2008 - 14 comments

Papa Palmérino Sorgente, the Pope of Montréal [more inside]
posted by XMLicious on Feb 28, 2008 - 8 comments

Jail Finds is a flickr set of art found stuffed inside books by the account holder at the jail where they are a volunteer running the book cart.
posted by jonson on Oct 29, 2007 - 9 comments

Louis Wain became one of the most famous British illustrators of the late Victorian and Edwardian era after trying to cheer up his wife Emily by drawing portraits of their pet cat, Peter. In addition to publishing a popular children's book about kittens, he was a founder of the U.K's National Cat Club who was instrumental in promoting the Cat Fancy movement, which encouraged Britons of all classes to view cats as lovable pets instead of household pests. Unfortunately, after Wain's wife Emily died of breast cancer, Wain gradually went mad due to psychosis and late onset schizophrenia, ending up in London's notorious Bethlehem Hospital (the etymological origin for the word bedlam). While at Bedlam, Wain continued to draw, but his cat portraits transformed into pure geometric abstraction and psychedelic fractals, but some see harbingers of madness in cryptically titled works, such as Early Indian Irish and The Fire of the Mind Agitates the Atmosphere. For more insight on Wain, check out this 1896 interview and this short film dramatizing the progression of Wain's schizophrenia through his art.
posted by jonp72 on Aug 12, 2007 - 25 comments

Alexander Pavlovich Lobanov was a Russian deaf-mute confined to psychiatric institutions for over 50 years. He liked to draw pictures of himself with guns. Lots of guns.
posted by hydrophonic on Jun 12, 2007 - 12 comments

Making fun [banner ad may be NSFW] of Furries sure is fun, isn't it? Pointing out over and over again some of the worst examples of what the the fandom has to offer seems to be an activity almost as old as the Internet. In the rush to point and laugh , though, it's easy to miss entirely some of the more beautiful and amusing examples of what the culture's emphasis on art and imagination has wrought upon the world. And even if you aren't impressed by the talent on display, someone is -- Further Confusion, one of the largest Furry conventions in the world, has had for two years running an art show bringing in over $60,000 each year, with portions of the convention's proceeds going to organizations such as the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund , the Coyote Point Museum , and the Oakland Zoo.
posted by wolftrouble on Nov 26, 2004 - 74 comments

Singer Wesley Willis was an artist as well. I'm not generally a big fan of "outsider art," as this might be called, but as raw as these pictures may be, they have a quality to them I don't think I've seen before. Enjoy. Via Monkeyfilter
posted by deadcowdan on Apr 26, 2004 - 16 comments

Two galleries of future-primitive/outsider art. "...An innovative vision of art: simple, non-academic, emotional, on a human scale."
posted by moonbird on Jan 10, 2004 - 3 comments

Ladies & Gentlemen, George Vlosich, the world's greatest etch-a-sketch artist. I'm nervous that I've seen this on Mefi before, but search came up blank...
posted by jonson on Aug 28, 2003 - 15 comments

Florida Folk Art. 'Welcome to my online Outsider Art Gallery. I collect outsider art, also known as Folk Art or Visionary Art ... '
More folk art :- Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations, a Kansas City Public TV project about the art and oddities of roadside America; the Yard Dog Folk Art Gallery ('folk art of the South'), a nice site from Texas; the Garde Rail Gallery; Folky Art; Four Florida Folk Artists (via Interesting Ideas). Not quite folk art but an interesting idea nonetheless :- the Miniature Book Library, an ongoing mail art project (which invites participants).
posted by plep on Apr 7, 2003 - 6 comments