The Colorful Apocalypse: Journeys in Outsider Art

199 Pages·2011·0.668 MB·English

by  Bottoms, Greg

THECOLORFULAPOCALYPSE

THE
COLORFUL
APOCALYPSE
journeys in outsider art
GREG BOTTOMS
the university of chicago press
ChicagoandLondon
greg bottoms’s essays,criticism,andfiction
haveappearedwidely.Heistheauthorof
Sentimental,HeartbrokenRednecks:Storiesfromthe
NewSouth,andthememoirAngelhead:MyBrother’s
DescentintoMadness,whichisalsoavailablefrom
theUniversityofChicagoPress.
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London
(cid:2)C 2007byGregBottoms
Allrightsreserved.Published2007
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13:978-0-226-06685-1(cloth)
isbn-13:978-0-226-06687-5(paper)
isbn-10:0-226-06685-1(cloth)
isbn-10:0-226-06687-8(paper)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Bottoms,Greg.
Thecolorfulapocalypse:journeysinoutsiderart/
GregBottoms.
p. cm.
isbn-13:978-0-226-06685-1(cloth:alk.paper)
isbn-10:0-226-06685-1(cloth:alk.paper)
isbn-13:978-0-226-06687-5(pbk.:alk.paper)
isbn-10:0-226-06687-8(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Art,American—20thcentury. 2.Outsider
art—UnitedStates. 3.Spiritualityinart. I.Title.
n6512.7.b68 2007
709.73—dc22
2006036203
(cid:2)∞ Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetsthe
minimumrequirementsoftheAmericanNational
StandardforInformationSciences—Permanence
ofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSI
Z39.48-1992.
Theviewofmanasasymbolizing,conceptualizing,meaning-
seekinganimal,whichhasbecomeincreasinglypopularbothin
thesocialsciencesandinphilosophyoverthepastseveralyears,
opensupawholenewapproachnotonlytotheanalysisofreli-
gionassuch,buttotheunderstandingoftherelationsbetween
religionandvalues.Thedrivetomakesenseoutofexperience,
togiveitformandorder,isevidentlyasrealandaspressingas
themorefamiliarbiologicalneeds.And,thisbeingso,itseems
unnecessarytocontinuetointerpretsymbolicactivities—re-
ligion,art,ideology—asnothingbutthinlydisguisedexpres-
sionsofsomethingotherthanwhattheyseemtobe:attempts
toprovideorientationforanorganismwhichcannotliveina
worlditisunabletounderstand.
cliffordgeertz

I’mhopingpeoplewillgivemesomeaccess—talkwithmeand
helpmefigureoutwhat’sgoingonaroundhere.
william carloswilliamsinconversationwith
RobertColes

CONTENTS
prologue
xi
the first notebook
VisionsfromParadise
1
the second notebook
RevelationTheories
57
the third notebook
Picture-PerfectJesus
123
acknowledgments
181