Willem van Genk was an artist from The Hague who focussed on the ‘dynamic chaos of the city’, as Michiel Morel calls it: “crowded cities with impressive architecture and train stations filled with advertisements; threatening platforms with trains as monsters; meandering streets and squares with monumental cathedrals”. (Shown here is Leningrad, 1955)

Van Genk, who lived from 1927 to 2005, suffered from schizophrenia and paranoia. His inability to keep to deadlines quickly sidelined him in a society centred around the pulse of the steady job. In art, too, he was considered an outsider who followed no tradition except his own.

Check out Morel’s article. It’s in Dutch, but it has many examples of Van Genk’s work. If you’re in New York, the American Folk Art Museum is exhibiting Van Genk’s paintings, drawings and so on until 1 December.

(Link: Trendbeheer)