An Outstanding Exhibiton: The Museum of Everything / London

The Museum of Everything

“For these artists there are no studios, no press junkets,
no art fairs, no magazine spreads. Instead there are treasure troves of untrained work, discovered under rocks, in basements and attics, its creators often unaware their art would ever see the light of day.”

Opening October 2009, The Museum of Everything is London’s first and only public space for artists and creators living outside modern society. Beautiful, challenging, delicate and democratic, this secret art has inspired generations of artists, from Jean Dubuffet to Jean-Michel Basquiat. In this inaugural exhibition, the museum has invited leading international artists, curators and figures to explore the connection with contemporary art. Contributors include: Annette Messager, Eva Rothschild, Tal R, Jamie Shovlin, Bob & Roberta Smith, Richard Wentworth, Idris Khan, Arnulf Rainer, Ed Ruscha, Jockum Nordstrom, Klara Kristalova, Karin Mamma Andersson, Mark Titchner, Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave and Anthony Hegarty amongst others. Each collaborator has chosen artists or artworks which influence or inspire them - including the spirit drawings of London-born medium Madge Gill, the recycled ceramic kingdom of Indian roads worker Nek Chand and the panoramic fairytale illustrations of renowned Chicago recluse, Henry Darger. Darger is the most important marginal artist of the Twentieth Century - and this exhibition features a unique series of sequential images, displayed together for the very first time since his death in 1973.

From janitors to jailbirds, mediums to miners, The Museum of Everything features over two hundred drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations, presented within a 10,000 sft former dairy and recording studio in Primrose Hill in Regents Park.

Artists represented: Aloise Corbaz, George Widener, Charles Dellschau, Willem van Genk, Martin Ramirez.......

Captions:
MORTON BARTLETT Untitled (plaster head of young boy), c.1950 Silver Gelatin Print 12.7 x 10.1cm © The Museum of Everything
HENRY DARGER Untitled (detail), c.1940-1960 Tracing collage pencil and watercolour 60.5 x 270.8cm © The Museum of Everything