art | Folk – It’s of the People or Something Like That

So, I’m obsessed with the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) – the loudest, over-the-top museums that is still quietly under the radar of most New Yorkers. Who thought the Shakers could ever be so interesting?

Relatively empty for a Friday but mostly populated with aging Baby Boomers and skinny-jean clad art students, the AFAM is a serene, intimate space that makes the most of its tiny property. It’s right next to the monolith MoMA, but MoMA’s large area hardly overshadows the architectural masterpiece of the AFAM. Built in 2001 and designed by Tod Williams and Billy Tsien, the building’s façade resembles a granite Trojan Horse –its simplicity makes it unassuming and mysterious yet you know there is more inside.

And there was. 4th Floor, Henry Darger– a social recluse who wrote a 15,000 page book entitled 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. The pictures that parallel this mouthful of a title are grotesque and mesmerizing. Hermaphrodite, doll-like girls run around a fantasy garden resembling Eden while adult cowboys try to capture these girls and hang them from trees. Yet, his use of bright watercolor is disturbingly beautiful. 3rd Floor, Martin Ramirez – a catatonic schizophrenic who drew while in an insane asylum. Abstract, minimalist, and just down right beautiful, his crayon drawings are filled with tunnels, caballeros, and bold lines.





Bottom Line: Visit AFAM and bask in Shaker-Darger glory. An aesthetic journey, I promise you.