THIS IS TEXT BASED ART
Adam Daley Wilson
When word-ideas started tumbling out in 2014, after a change in my psychiatric meds, I decided to end my secrecy and shame about having a severe mental illness. I stopped 10 years of hiding. In parts of my profession, the legal profession, the subsequent exploitation of societal stigma, prejudice, and fear about mental illness was staggering. The mix of shame and outside animus almost killed me. And in treatment programs I met so many people who had a severe mental illness—and who were good and decent humans, in all normative and objective ways. And since then I keep wondering, in different pieces of art, not just about individuals, but also about in collective humanity, our acts, what we do, what we don’t, as a species — a universal us — so much judgment about things not relevant — and so many rationalizations about things that are relevant, what we do, and it often leads me to the words that are this piece, which substantively references elements of Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer, and which visually references elements of Mel Bochner and Wool.
Just Who Has The Illness Of The Mind, 2023
oil on canvas
52 x 43 in 132.1 x 109.2 cm
oil on canvas
52 x 43 in 132.1 x 109.2 cm
