Drawings from Inside State Hospital No. 3
Starred review from April 1, 2016
Recently rediscovered outsider artist Deeds (1908-87) creates a soothing, peaceful environment in which portrait subjects stare like placid sphinxes, steamboats ply rivers without running aground, and horses, elephants, cats, monkeys, and flocks of birds are captured midstep or midflight. The work was created on hospital ledger pages by Deeds, a patient of a Missouri state mental hospital for most of his adult life. Remarkably, the artist never saw most of his subjects firsthand. Furthermore, many drawings depict a world that predates the artist's birth, ranging from the 1890s to the early 1920s. Richard Goodman (creative writing, Univ. of New Orleans; French Dirt) provides a thought-provoking introduction that includes much of Deeds's biography and frames his work within historical context. The art reveals a deep sense of curiosity, and while a time capsule from a specific period, it also serves to document the failings of mental health treatment in the United States. VERDICT An excellent entry point to art in an unconventional form. Those interested in the outsider art movement will want to put this at the top of their to-read list.--Rachael Dreyer, Pennsylvania State Univ. Dept. of Libs.
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