(Untitled)

[ohnopolio]

Art by Louis Wain. This man is probably one of my favorite artists of all time. He is so interesting.

This piece is from when he was in the Bethlem asylum. My favorite.

The Fire of the Mind Agitates the Atmosphere

Comments

[natewillsheets]

Those are delightful pictures (several are broken, though)

[ohnopolio]

sorry i was being lazy and hotlinking. i'm hosting them all now though so they should show up

[danknee]

they do, and thanksssss
These are so killer psycho cats

[heartttcore]

haha amazing!!

[pink_porcupette]

I love Louis Wain so much... he's one of my favorite artists. I don't really believe that his art changing was a result of schizophrenia (or that he even had schizophrenia rather than some other mental issues), the more abstract art was very precise and skillfully done. I've heard that his mother was a designer of rugs or wallpaper, I think he was drawing inspiration from that for some of the patterned cats.

[ohnopolio]

yes she designed rugs. he has several "wallpaper" cats. i think he sort of spiraled into the psychedelic cats with age. i personally think his mental state was a big influence of the direction of his artwork.

[teddi]

I don't know how much you'll care, but I'm an artist who has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder (essentially symptoms of both schizophrenia and a mood disorder, but not enough to warrant a full diagnosis of either one separately), and I keep a blog about it. From my own experience, I think that Wain's later art style most likely was a direct effect of his illness. I mentioned him in a post here, but you may need to see examples of my own psychotic artwork here to fully understand why I think this way.

Again, I don't know if you'll care, and it is all just my opinion, based on my own experiences. I just thought I'd link to it in case anyone might find it interesting or useful in some way.

[ohnopolio]

i was diagnosed with schizophrenia and mild psychosis when i was 18. i went without medication for many years, and once i was put onto mood stablizers it altered the kind of art i make. so i firmly believe wain's art was a direct result of his mental condition.

thanks for the link it's very interesting.

[kill_inhibition]

I was just talking about him with my friend today.
I'd like his work more but I hate cats! I love his non cat work.

Also makes me think of Current 93

[zzzing]

icon is rad