Skt. Adolf=Ballohn=Schiff; Riesen=Stadt 1921

Adolf Wölfli made this drawing with coloured pencil, likely from within the walls of the asylum where he spent most of his adult life. It’s a ship, right? Or a city? Or both? What a hybrid! And those compass-like wheels—are they turning, are we moving? I love the delicate lines, the sheer obsessive quality of his hand. Imagine him there, day after day, lost in this world, carefully filling every bit of space. He’s building and layering, adding more and more detail, more and more stuff. I see echoes of Madge Gill’s visionary drawings, or maybe even the Pattern and Decoration movement. All these artists, working away, making their own rules, building a community across time. And that’s what art is, isn’t it? A big conversation, everyone adding their voice, their vision, bit by bit.