Mental Illness Becomes Art Genre

   Text by Rick McVicar

     Abstract paintings depicting artists' experience of mental illness are being sold on Etsy while drawings are featured on Pinterest. 

  They can be found with a search for "mental illness art." The pictures offer visual perspective on brain health recovery.

  Some of the abstract pieces on Etsy sell for more than $500. The more expensive pieces display vibrant colors and invite a closer look.   

  For instance, “Outsider Art,” by alffredhallidayart, is a work filled with people squeezed in between houses. A brown sun shines over the village. The title would suggest the people in the picture are those with no homes. The work goes for about $560.  

  “Grandad’s Rocking Chair Stories,” by Elidh Morris, is a collection of small intricate shapes. Deep focus is required to recognize the man in the rocker surrounded by bits and pieces representing tidbits of stories. The piece is being sold for about $170. Morris also has “Meadow Maker” for sale for $280. The picture is a portrait displaying a pink and blue abstract face.   “Pains,” by TheGildedFae,” shows the partial face of a woman with long blue hair. The piece sells for $225.   

   Other work for smaller prices, down to about $5, can also be found. The more affordable pieces are mostly drawings and sketches.   

  Pencil and ink sketches can also be found on Pinterest. Many of them show bodies with two or three faces. Some of them have skeletal hands and jagged teeth.  

  For instance, “Overthinking,” by Shero Shiro, features a round face squeezed between two screaming faces. “Mental Health, Me, Makeup and Photoshop,” by u/DarthKweema, shows the face of an earth-toned woman with an extra set of blue eyes and nose smashed in the middle of her face.

   Depression is depicted as well, such as “Turning Blue, The Trance and Mental Health Report,” by Glenn Brady. The picture displays the side of a woman with a long, sad face.  

  The art displayed on Etsy and Pinterest shows a wide range of emotion as well as art skill, fitting for a new genre of art.    

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