If you’re interested in being interviewed in the future, please fill out this form. After writing across a diverse array of topic areas for nearly two decades, Kathryn Vercillo has honed her craft to the unique niche of writing at the intersection of art and mental health. She has expert experience in exploring the physical and mental health benefits of crafting, and more recently began to dig into all of the ups, downs, and intricate nuances of how mental health impacts art making in diverse ways.
First off, congrats to you two on a great piece! This is the type of useful collaboration I love seeing.
Second, I love the focus on how problematic "outsider art" is. It's hard not to be fascinated by an artist suffering through mental illness, but their art belongs at the same table as everyone else's, and there's really no such thing as "naive" art these days... or at least it's far more rare than the art world cared to admit when I was cutting my art history teeth in the 80s and 90s.
Thank you so much for noticing that. It's something that I try to cover well in the book but it's a big topic and a lot can be said about it. Would love to hear more about your own experiences with art history studies.
Well, I majored in painting and printmaking, and got to attend several art history classes. My favorite was probably Post-Columbian Art of Latin and South America, especially the modern and contemporary stuff. That was so much fun.
Also: mental illness is notoriously fetishized by art collectors and historians; a few notable artists with afflictions I drew inspiration from: Nick Blinko, Basquiat, Van Gogh. I don't like the fetishization, but find their unique minds fascinating to study.
Van gogh is super fascinating from a research perspective because he is held up as the example everyone gives related to “crazy artists” ... and psychologists have attributed something like 300 different possible diagnoses to him post humously so if you ever search “artists with x (depression, whatever) he’s on the list. What I find most interesting personally is the work he did in the asylum because it’s a combination of depicting some of the horrors of daily life there but then also an escape into the starry night.
I have a whole chapter on Basquiat in my book and it barely scrapes the surface because he had childhood trauma, he was celebrated but in a very racist way, he had substance issues ... from my specific lens, there’s so much more to explore there about how it all intersects with his creativity.
Do you know Bispo? Regarding the outsider art fetishization he’s another one. Loreteller let me share some stuff about him that didn’t get into my book:
Nick Blinko was also the frontrunner for the punk band Rudimentary Peni. His art is on every Rudi P release, and in record liner notes, stuff like that. Rudi P always made their music a work of visual art as well, and I always appreciated that richness.
And, I don't know nearly enough about Bispo, but I really should! On it, bookmarking your piece for later reading.
Very true. And, many of these so-called "naive" artists often do one of my favorite things: combining words with pictures. That's happening here on Substack, too. New artists are being forged.
That part about the meds? Holy moly, is that me to a T. Don't take them, and I'm a mess but I'm able to be creative... take them, and I can do the dishes I guess? So for the most part, I opt not to take them.
First off, congrats to you two on a great piece! This is the type of useful collaboration I love seeing.
Second, I love the focus on how problematic "outsider art" is. It's hard not to be fascinated by an artist suffering through mental illness, but their art belongs at the same table as everyone else's, and there's really no such thing as "naive" art these days... or at least it's far more rare than the art world cared to admit when I was cutting my art history teeth in the 80s and 90s.
Thank you so much for noticing that. It's something that I try to cover well in the book but it's a big topic and a lot can be said about it. Would love to hear more about your own experiences with art history studies.
Well, I majored in painting and printmaking, and got to attend several art history classes. My favorite was probably Post-Columbian Art of Latin and South America, especially the modern and contemporary stuff. That was so much fun.
Also: mental illness is notoriously fetishized by art collectors and historians; a few notable artists with afflictions I drew inspiration from: Nick Blinko, Basquiat, Van Gogh. I don't like the fetishization, but find their unique minds fascinating to study.
I’m not too familiar with Nick blinko.
Van gogh is super fascinating from a research perspective because he is held up as the example everyone gives related to “crazy artists” ... and psychologists have attributed something like 300 different possible diagnoses to him post humously so if you ever search “artists with x (depression, whatever) he’s on the list. What I find most interesting personally is the work he did in the asylum because it’s a combination of depicting some of the horrors of daily life there but then also an escape into the starry night.
I have a whole chapter on Basquiat in my book and it barely scrapes the surface because he had childhood trauma, he was celebrated but in a very racist way, he had substance issues ... from my specific lens, there’s so much more to explore there about how it all intersects with his creativity.
Do you know Bispo? Regarding the outsider art fetishization he’s another one. Loreteller let me share some stuff about him that didn’t get into my book:
https://open.substack.com/pub/loreteller/p/special-preview-an-unfinished-chapter
Nick Blinko was also the frontrunner for the punk band Rudimentary Peni. His art is on every Rudi P release, and in record liner notes, stuff like that. Rudi P always made their music a work of visual art as well, and I always appreciated that richness.
And, I don't know nearly enough about Bispo, but I really should! On it, bookmarking your piece for later reading.
I am constantly amazed by how many more artists I still don’t know about. We could study for a lifetime.
Very true. And, many of these so-called "naive" artists often do one of my favorite things: combining words with pictures. That's happening here on Substack, too. New artists are being forged.
Thanks again for being a stop on the book tour. I really enjoyed our interview which gave me the chance to think about things in new, deeper ways.
That part about the meds? Holy moly, is that me to a T. Don't take them, and I'm a mess but I'm able to be creative... take them, and I can do the dishes I guess? So for the most part, I opt not to take them.
Form spells trap in wolf, btw.