“We Shall Make America Wonder”

The four artists in this exhibit (some self-taught, others art-school educated) represent different degrees of outsider art as seen in the work of Joe Coleman, Felipe Jesus Consalvos, Henry Darger and Duke Riley. Darger (1892-1973) is the most famous of the lot, and is even featured as the subject here of a gonzo painting by Coleman paying homage to the creator of the Vivian Girls. Riley, who once built a working recreation of the Revolutionary War-era submarine, The Turtle—is known for maritime themes, evinced here by a huge rendering of a fanciful ship. Consalvos (1891-1960) made his Dadaist collages out of cigar boxes and bands for good reason: He was a cigar roller for most of his life, both in his native Havana and in the United States after he immigrated here in 1920. Together, the artists in the show (named for the title of one of Consalvos’s contributions) should indeed elicit amazement from the viewer.