Don't know if this is apocryphal or not, but the drawings are actually pretty good. As the story goes, they are drawings done during a study in the 1950s of the effects of LSD.
LSD drawings
Also of interest, Louis Wain's skitzophrenic cat drawings
(via Kottke and a poster named Adam)
Posted by kwc at January 8, 2004 06:05 PMJudging from the account of his behavior and the look of the drawings, he really didn't need that second dose.
Posted by: meta at January 13, 2004 02:50 PMi found the same schizophrenic cat portraits stuff about 3 months ago, randomly, searching for "schizophrenic art". incredible. had some interactions with a few schizophrenics lately via med school and my job, as well as interactions with the structure and function of their brains, and i've concluded that imho it's the most fascinating thing in all of science, and moreover, when we understand what makes a schizophrenic a schizophrenic, we're going to know much, much more than we bargained for about the nature of mind. stunningly incredible to me that there is SUCH similarity in themes between schizophrenic and psychedelic art. if only i could convince my bosses that this so obviously a valid connection (i work part time in a lab that deals with functional and anatomical imaging of brains of patients with various psychiatric disorders).
oh and, add to that list, a huge proportion of hindu and buddhist and any other transcendent-type art, essentially any tradition that makes anything like a mandala. i mean for god's sake, look at the righthand portraits on the first and second row of http://largeprojections.com/wain.htm . i'm hardly the expert on this round here, but tell me they don't look straight out of thailand.
Posted by: rollin at January 19, 2004 04:36 AM