I recently saw the film In the Realms of the Unreal, a documentary about Henry Darger.
From IMDB:

Henry Darger worked all his life in menial jobs in Chicago. Living alone and in poverty, he had no friends or close family. Spending all his off hours alone, he whiled away the hours working on a 15,000 page illustrated novel called The Realms of the Unreal. A stunning amalgam of religious imagery, fantasy, and heroic drama, the work was only discovered after Darger was moved to a hospital during the last days of his life. Darger also wrote journals and an autobiography. The documentary uses interviews with Darger's neighbors and narration of passages from his works, along with his illustrations, to explore the mind and work of Henry Darger.

His work is breathtaking (and way ahead of his time).
He collected clippings of photographs and illustrations from newspapers and advertisements and pasted them in old phone books. He made his own canvases out of layered newsprint. He taught himself how to draw and paint. He created collages and photomontages. He's such an intriguing character.

Oh, and this tattoo is awesome:

1 Comment

1. katie on June 25, 2009 at 5:42 AM

   love those! i'm going to get that documentary soon. sounds right up my alley.