St. Vinzentz=Münster, in Bern 1916

Adolf Wölfli made this drawing of St. Vinzentz-Münster in Bern without a date, using colored pencil and graphite. Just look at that green border, it's so considered! The whole thing is so ornate, like a psychedelic birthday cake made of a cathedral. I love the density of Wölfli's marks and how he builds up layer upon layer, it gives everything a real sense of depth. See the faces peeking out from behind arches and spires, they are like ghosts in the architecture. It's all incredibly personal, obsessive even. Each tiny detail seems to carry some hidden meaning, or maybe it's just a record of his own wandering thoughts. Wölfli reminds me of other visionary artists like Hilma af Klint, people who created their own visual languages to express something beyond the ordinary. It's a reminder that art can be a way of making sense of the world, even when it doesn't make sense to anyone else.