CWC as outsider artist? -

[lovedui]

Hey--this is my first post, I've really been following the CWC saga for a while, mostly through the comics, but this has popped into my head a few times: I feel like the analysis of CWC's work (by "work" I mainly limit this to the comics) has been from a pretty normal perspective; how we would look at the work by any regular author. Do we gain anything if we treat him as more of an "outsider artist" though? My understanding of outsider art is mostly limited to music, but I think this could be an interesting discussion.

On some level, his work is hard to classify as "outsider" because it really does rely so much on copyrighted material, but then again it's so fuckin' weird and obviously unreal that it becomes something greater. I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with Daniel Johnston, but a lot of CWC's attitudes in terms of dramatizing his mundane life into something huge and obsessing over the past remind a lot of Daniel's work. Of course, Daniel Johnston is a lot more likable, but it is worth remembering that Daniel Johnston once threw the keys out of a moving plane.

Wesley Willis is also really comparable in terms of the use of copyrighted material obsessively. Notably all three of them have some sort of mental illness.

I'm not 100% sure where I'm going with this, and I don't know if anyone else is nerdy about this kind of stuff, but I guess at this point in the CWC history there is little to do but try to scrape up any lessons or understanding we can get. I guess if this is stupid delete it?

 

[DangDirtyTrolls]

I really believe people overthink Chris a lot of the time. He litters his work with very obvious pop culture references and even then he often fucks up the references or mangles them beyond comprehension. You can dig as deep as you'd like but I don't think there's much to find in Chris' work below the surface.

 

[lovedui]

I really believe people overthink Chris a lot of the time. He litters his work with very obvious pop culture references and even then he often fucks up the references or mangles them beyond comprehension. You can dig as deep as you'd like but I don't think there's much to find in Chris' work below the surface.

I guess what I'm meaning to say is: does he fuck everything up so much that he achieves greatness?

[youtube]XR9d4ESlpHY[/youtube]

 

[PickleTron7000]

The difference between Wesley Willis and Chris was that Wesley Willis was able to generate original lyrics for his music. Chris steals everything he creates.

 

[EzioCanLeapofFaith]

I really believe people overthink Chris a lot of the time. He litters his work with very obvious pop culture references and even then he often fucks up the references or mangles them beyond comprehension. You can dig as deep as you'd like but I don't think there's much to find in Chris' work below the surface.

I guess what I'm meaning to say is: does he fuck everything up so much that he achieves greatness?

No.

In all seriousness though. His comics are more like what a child would produce. Putting everything they like in their comics that are about their lives and portray them as heroes.
You know like all those silly things we created when we were little. Except Chris never grew out of that phase.

 

[CWC Tok]

It's not a bad comparison, although there are distinctions to be made. Outsider artists tend to be people on the fringes of society, most often because of mental health issues, but I think the difference is that I think someone like Daniel Johnston creates art that is compelling in it's own right. With Chris, I think he only becomes interesting when you look at his art in conjunction with the details of his life. Personally, I have little interest in Sonichu--it's Chris himself who is interesting. He's a performance artist who doesn't know it.

 

[Coldgrip]

Chris' "work" is nothing more than him being able to act out his fantasies of being an all powerful, charismatic and beloved hero the world (Cwcville) over, where he can do no wrong, he can punish any and all that have displeased him and where women flock to him in hopes of being his fuckmommygal-pal . It's wish fulfillment and nothing more. Oh, and shitty pop culture references.

 

[Some JERK]

[youtube]HPftjJlqDdQ[/youtube]
Comparing sonichu to this is a fucking crime.


although i will admit that Chris totally could have written this song:
[youtube]EZKApT6vC0g[/youtube]

 

[Batman VS Tony Danza]

We've all made the mistake of over-analyzing Chris. You could gather the greatest minds in an attempt to decipher Chris and you've already fucked up because you're thinking in the wrong direction. Just imagine the most petty and entitled 6 year old you ever met, force feed him lead paint chips until he has the practical memory of a goldfish, then cram him into an adult body.

Now tell him Sonic is dead and throw change at him.

 

[GFYS]

...With Chris, I think he only becomes interesting when you look at his art in conjunction with the details of his life. Personally, I have little interest in Sonichu--it's Chris himself who is interesting. He's a performance artist who doesn't know it.

I have to agree with this. Little of Sonichu is remarkable, until you consider it was created - in earnest - by someone in their mid-to-late twenties, whose life is a complete and hopeless mess. There's pretty much no hidden meaning, intended by the author. The depth comes from connecting all of the terrible elements of the comic, with all of the terrible elements of Christian's personality. As such, I don't see the comic as being at all significant, without the train-wreck around it. Considering the entire train-wreck, I hold Chris to be a marvel... A near-perfect failure machine.

 

[CWC Tok]

...With Chris, I think he only becomes interesting when you look at his art in conjunction with the details of his life. Personally, I have little interest in Sonichu--it's Chris himself who is interesting. He's a performance artist who doesn't know it.

I have to agree with this. Little of Sonichu is remarkable, until you consider it was created - in earnest - by someone in their mid-to-late twenties, whose life is a complete and hopeless mess. There's pretty much no hidden meaning, intended by the author. The depth comes from connecting all of the terrible elements of the comic, with all of the terrible elements of Christian's personality. As such, I don't see the comic as being at all significant, without the train-wreck around it. Considering the entire train-wreck, I hold Chris to be a marvel... A near-perfect failure machine.

Connecting this to the current thread about a Chris documentary--I still say it's not impossible--but I do think it is fair to say Chris is truly a multi-media experience. The comics, the videos, the trolling--every aspect reinforces all the others. This is probably a partial explanation for why he is brushed aside by many people who only have casual exposure, but he also attracted a pretty devout cult following. I wouldn't go so far as to say the internet made Chris possible--there have always been outsiders--but it's certainly his true medium.

 

[DykesDykesChina]

Artwork by Adolf Wölfli, a mentally ill man from Switzerland - one of the earliest recognized examples of outsider art.

Look at these for some minutes, then look at the Sonichu comic. This comparison should speak for itself.

 

[LordCustos3]

Until I new better, I assumed Da Chris'tard was another Daniel Johnston....but it turns out he's Bizarro Daniel Johnston without any charm or talent.

 

[Henry Bemis]

Art of any stripe is a reflection of the artist's life.

Chris has what can only be charitably called a life, in that he is still breathing and his heart is still beating and his brain is still fleetingly working...but nothing else. Hence, his art-his reflection-is empty.

 

[CWC Tok]

Sonichu is nowhere close to those paintings just as "So Need a Cute Girl" is nowhere close to "Walking the Cow." I wonder if outsider art is the right term--is there a term* that describes someone like Chris, who is interesting for the strange combination of outsider art characteristics bolstered by the trainwreck personality and personal life? If not, we should invent one.

(*And no, I'm not talking about "lolcow.")

 

[Henry Bemis]

Sonichu is nowhere close to those paintings just as "So Need a Cute Girl" is nowhere close to "Walking the Cow." I wonder if outsider art is the right term--is there a term* that describes someone like Chris, who is interesting for the strange combination of outsider art characteristics bolstered by the trainwreck personality and personal life? If not, we should invent one.

(*And no, I'm not talking about "lolcow.")

Ignorable? Negligible?

 

[CWC Tok]

Sonichu is nowhere close to those paintings just as "So Need a Cute Girl" is nowhere close to "Walking the Cow." I wonder if outsider art is the right term--is there a term* that describes someone like Chris, who is interesting for the strange combination of outsider art characteristics bolstered by the trainwreck personality and personal life? If not, we should invent one.

(*And no, I'm not talking about "lolcow.")

Ignorable? Negligible?

Chris may be ignorable, but I don't think anyone who registered an account on this forum is in a position to levy that particular charge.

 

[CatParty]

Sonichu is nowhere close to those paintings just as "So Need a Cute Girl" is nowhere close to "Walking the Cow." I wonder if outsider art is the right term--is there a term* that describes someone like Chris, who is interesting for the strange combination of outsider art characteristics bolstered by the trainwreck personality and personal life? If not, we should invent one.

(*And no, I'm not talking about "lolcow.")

Chris is an idiot.

 

[Silvana]

Do you know, I've been toying with the idea of writing a post asking exactly the same question! Like you say, the outsider musician is the analogy that immediately springs to mind - Daniel Johnston, Hasel Adkins, Wesley Willis, Wild Man Fischer, The Shaggs... Then again, there are and have been lots of outsider artists: Pierre Molinier, Joseph Cornell, Henry Darger.. Check out these artists and you'll find they share many at least surface traits with Chris - "naive artist" status, obsessively pursued subject matter that often concerns itself with the pop culture they find in their immediate surroundings. For what it's worth, I personally find it hard to think of Chris as a worthwhile outsider artist - at least as far as Sonichu is concerned. It's so dull, incoherent and deeply unoriginal! All the original content seems to be derived from Chris' life - and is transferred wholesale (with very few changes) to his ripped-off fantasy world, for the simple reason it's the only place where he's ever able to triumph. Whereas Molinier, Cornell, Darger etc. at least had truly powerful imaginations and enough basic skill to successfully express the things they imagined...
Chris is fascinating to observe - but on account of his life as a whole, which I see as a grotesque, elephantine monument to failure. (A monument he created unintentionally, certainly...) Perhaps you could say that is the work that grants him legitimate status as an outsider artist? But if so, then surely that means the Collyer Brothers were outsider artists as well?

EDIT: Damn - I was so keen to post my own thoughts, I just went right ahead - then saw that everything I've said has been expressed (much more succinctly) by previous posters! Chris is a tremendous source of interest to me; however, I hardly ever post, simply because I always find my thoughts on him have already been expressed - and usually much better!

 

[Henry Bemis]

Chris is fascinating to observe - but on account of his life as a whole, which I see as a grotesque, elephantine monument to failure. (A monument he created unintentionally, certainly...) Perhaps you could say that is the work that grants him legitimate status as an outsider artist?

The bold part is the very essence as to why Chris is not a good artist: he is incapable of distilling and expressing his life via a single (body of) work. It requires a fishing expedition on the observer's part to figure out what the hell he's getting at, and the explanations you find are never very deep or enthralling ("me angry" is the core for at least 75% of his output).