~HENRY DARGER/FREE MUSIC FRIDAY/The American Folk Art Museum

Darger Brand image

THE AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM presents: FREE MUSIC FRIDAYS !!

and that means: tomorrow !! FRIDAY AUGUST 22, 2008 from 5:30-8 PM !!

its a great deal – you get to explore all 5 floors of the museum for FREE, grab a drink in the cafe and enjoy live music in the museum’s ‘stunning’ atrium. this is especially notable – as the current
featured exhibit is – ‘DARGERism: Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger’ !!

in fact, New York City’s AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM is “home to the single largest repository of works by HENRY DARGER” – probably one of the best & certainly, the most notorious outsider artist of the past century, Henry Darger (1892-1973). sure to be some very fascinating works by him.
get more info on the exhibit: ‘DARGERism’ !!

Darger mural

above, ‘AT SUNBEAM CREEK. ARE WITH LITTLE GIRL REFUGEES AGAIN IN PERIL FROM FOREST FIRES. BUT ESCAPE THIS ALSO, BUT HALF NAKED AND IN BURNED RAGS ….. ‘
HENRY DARGER (1892-1973), CHICAGO, MID TWENTIETH CENTURY
Watercolor, pencil, carbon tracing, and collage on pieced paper. 19 x 70-1/2 in.
PHOTO BY JAMES PRINZ/COURTESY: AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM

Darger # 1A
detail, above image

Darger # 1
detail, above image

Darger # 3
detail, above image

. . . one of the featured contemporary artists – in ‘DARGERism’ – is none other than our very FAVE !! photographer – JUSTINE KURLAND – !!

Dargerism-Justine K

above, from ‘DARGERism: CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS AND HENRY DARGER’
‘BATTLEFIELD’ – JUSTINE KURLAND, (b. 1969), NEW YORK
Color Photograph, 2001, 30 x 40 in.
IMAGE COURTESY/AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM/PHOTO COURTESY: Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York

darger - upcoming

. . . and in fact, something more – to really look FORWARD to, THE AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM is following up with what looks to be a really interesting – upcoming exhibition, also drawn from their extensive Henry Darger collection:
‘UP CLOSE: HENRY DARGER’ – will run OCT 7, 2008 – JUNE 2009.
according to the museum’s website – “The American Folk Art Museum will devote an intimate gallery on the fourth floor to rotating exhibitions focusing on a single theme. The first of these will showcase eight of the nearly three hundred watercolors Henry Darger created to illustrate his 15,000-page manuscript The Story of the Vivian Girls, in what is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. VOLUME 6 of that epic will also be on display.”

. . . back to tomorrow, FRIDAY AUGUST 22, 2008 – the live folk music will be performed by:

DAPHNE DARLING at 5:30PM – she seems to hail from TORONTO – see: DAPHNE DARLING

and, ARLON BENNETT at 6:30 – a local talent – see: ARLON BENNETT

AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM – 45 West 53rd St. (bet 5th & 6th Avenues) – NYC

AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM