Der Napf 1916

Adolf Wölfli made this drawing, Der Napf, with colored pencil on paper. I imagine the act of drawing as an act of compulsive listing. Look at all the rings and the figures contained within. There's something so sympathetic about this kind of artmaking. I imagine Wölfli hunkered down, lost in the act of building this weird cosmos. What was he thinking when he gave those figures such strange faces? I mean, what are those crosses doing on their foreheads? And the eyes staring out from other eyes. It’s almost like he’s trying to create a new language. I see echoes of other outsider artists like Henry Darger, who created these elaborate fantasy worlds. There is something so human about making something out of nothing. I think artists are in an ongoing conversation with each other, inspiring each other's creativity across time. It's like a big, messy, beautiful exchange of ideas that embraces uncertainty. And that’s what art is, right?