Rerun: chrisg presents ... jonathan lerman day (orig. 09/07/07)

i read dc's every day but i have never made a comment yet. i got inspired to be a guest host and i hope that is o.k. with everyone. it was something around a year ago that a friend of mine gave me a gift book entitled jonathan lerman: the drawings of a boy with autism. in a general way i'm not interested in outsider art or art made by "idiot savant" very much but i fell in love with jonathan lerman's drawings. i don't think you need the crutch of knowing he's autistic to appreciate them and that's a real difference with most outsider art. his drawings remind me more of some of the trendy contemporary artists like brian calvin and elizabeth peyton only deeper and stranger. he's now around 20 years-old and has been drawing since he was around 10 years-old. he developed autism at 2 years-old and his iq is 53. the drawings in the book are mostly from when he was between the ages of 13 and 14 and they're very imaginative and strange. i love the later drawings he made around the ages of 15 and 16 the best because they're more realistic and about things that people around our age (i'm 17) relate to like rock bands (bright eyes, cobain, the strokes) and sex and portraits of people our age. the drawings i chose to show you are all from when he was around 16. you can read more about him and see more drawings of his if you try the links. thank you!



















*

p.s. Hey. I'm on way back to Paris from Lyon this morning, so the blog is having to fend for itself without me. It has gambled on this old guest-post of what I hope will be some degree of considerable interest. I'll see you in-person with newness tomorrow.