Inside Outsider Writing

This essay was written during autumn of my sophomore year at the University of Denver. It was written for Theories of Writing, a course taught by Dr. Rebekah Shultz-Colby. I had recently become fascinated with the evolution of outsider art in a digital landscape, so I chose to write an essay examining audience-creator relationships in the digital age. I accomplished this by using outsider art as an example of the worst and best possible outcomes of these interactions.

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The fascination that many have with the world of outsider art is an eccentric, perhaps pretentious, reverence at best and contemptuous at worst. Figures such as Kurt Cobain, who could be considered part of the mainstream “inside world” of their craft in this context, were famously intrigued with the unconventional and dark worlds of outsider artists and used them as inspiration- such as the naïve and unintentionally off-beat music of The Shaggs or the tape-recorder never-mature charm of Daniel Johnston’s lo-fi songs. What all outsider art has in common is naivete and often mental illness. The message behind the work is always an unintentional by-product of the creator’s mental turmoil- whatever makes them an outsider. As a result, the creator of the art is always just as important as the art itself, causing an odd audience obsession with the creator- an obsession that exists in the mainstream world of art, but is especially magnified in the smaller and more niche world of outsider art. The best and worst possible outcomes of intense audience interaction with an often unstable creator are an uncomfortable look into how these same outcomes seep into the mainstream art world. They also illustrate the significance, or insignificance, in the intent of an artist.

The best possible outcome of audience interaction can be illustrated with Nick “Ulillillia” Smith. He is an autistic man with obsessive-compulsive disorder whose list of phobias include mirrors, ketchup and mustard bottles, blue water, whistling, waiting in line, stairs, etc. (Hoch). He was first discovered through his intriguingly deep rabbit hole of a website and was at first a subject of ridicule and bullying- but after further exploration of his works and interactions with Nick Smith himself, who many argue has a charm in his own right, the tides in his audience shifted toward an encouraging and even protective tone. Though more famously known for his blog, YouTube channel, and being a game developer, he is also a prolific writer, as shown in his book The Legend of the 10 Elemental Masters. His descriptions use rigorous, nearly microscopic, detail. One excerpt in which he describes a character within the book reads, “Ivan is a 14-2/3-year-old eighth grade student who is a sports enthusiast with above average muscle mass. He is a 152-pound Native American 70 inches tall. He wears short, white (FFFFFFFF) socks, medium-priced (40$), fairly old running shoes, an orange (FFFF8000) cotton T-shirt, and dark blue-violet (FF200060) elastic silk capris (long shorts extending three inches below the knee). The capris have holes 1/16 inch in diameter forming equilateral triangles spaced a quarter inch apart (to allow the skin to breathe)” (Smith). Despite being objectively wordy and alienating, Smith’s writing caught the attention of multiple people who would then develop a fondness for his near-unreadable work. Nick Smith now lives a mundane life, but is, because of his audience’s support, living comfortably as he works to combat his mental illness. Though his biggest fear was formerly blue water, he recently posted a video of himself swimming in it. “Blue water kills you,” Nick says to the camera. “Or at least, that’s what I would have said 21 years ago. I wouldn’t have even touched a rain puddle of all things, and yet here I am, sunken up to my neck in it” (Hoch).

A perfect foil to Nick Smith in the outsider writing world would be Christine Weston Chandler, the creator of the webcomic Sonichu. She is widely considered the most documented person in history. The eccentricities of her webcomic and her autism, like Nick Smith, caused her to become a target of online bullying and harassment. Christine’s response to this harassment would change the course of her internet career and life. Entire online spheres, such as Kiwifarms and what is now called the CWCki (after her initials), first sprung up as websites solely dedicated to harassing Chandler and are now widely considered centers for unmoderated hate speech, harassment, stalking, and bullying in general- even outside of Christine (Colombo and Haasch.)

The cover of the webcomic "Sonichu."

She recently catapulted into the public eye after being arrested for, allegedly, sexually assaulting her elderly mother (Colombo and Haasch.) Discourse formerly had within the niche community of outsider writing is now being had on a more widespread scale. Discussion and speculation about the extent to which Chandler was encouraged to do such a heinous act can now be found outside of her formerly comparatively niche audience, as she is notorious for being suggestible and mentally unstable because of continued harassment.

Both cases show the intense power of audience interaction. Even within the mainstream writing world, Stephen King wrote Misery as not only a horror but a satire of the interactions between audience and author. While not as severely mentally ill and rudimentary as most outsider artists, there is a stereotype of the mainstream “tortured writer” spilling their trauma onto the page- the difference is perceived skill in the greater writing world and whether the trauma and illness spilt is intentional. In this sense, every audience is a group of observers who are intrigued with the mental processes behind a writer’s work. Furthermore, the difference between the outsider and mainstream writer could then be described as how good one is at articulation, or, to put it more crudely, manipulating their audience. For many, the appeal of Chandler and Smith is that they are not attempting to articulate their illness in a way most would consider “intelligent” or “artful” although it is evident in their works. Having no self-awareness in this regard means that both are bearing their soul in a way that is not visible to them but can be seen by their audience. Could the difference between the outsider and mainstream writer, then, be pinpointed in how skilled either is in manipulating their thoughts into something consumable? Could it be pinpointed in one having enough self-awareness to obscure the uglier parts of their thought process while the other does not? More importantly, at what point does the creator, rather than their creations, become what is being consumed?

These sentiments echo outside of the world of outsider writing but tend to be more prevalent within it. The quirky and often dark world of outsider writing can illustrate a harsh caricature of every question found in the general writing world- How involved should an audience be? Does the writer’s intent matter? What if the audience interacts negatively with a creator? Do audiences tend to be obsessed with mental illness and trauma? Outsider art answers all of these in an uncomfortable way.