Ken Grimes

b. 1947 · New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Five decades of black and white paintings asking one question in block capitals: is anybody out there, and have they already been in touch?

The life

Grimes was born in New York City in 1947 and grew up in Cheshire, Connecticut, on a diet of science fiction films. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in his early twenties, he spent much of the 1970s in hospital, and today lives and works at Fellowship Place in New Haven. He was included in the American Folk Art Museum’s landmark survey Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century, and in 2023 the book and exhibition Evidence for Contact gathered his life’s project in one place.

The work

Acrylic on canvas and wood, ink on paper, and almost nothing but black and white, the starkest contrast he can find between truth and deception. White block capitals on black grounds log strange coincidences, cosmic phenomena and possible signs of extraterrestrial influence on human affairs, with spelling slips left standing in case they too are significant. His work is held by the American Folk Art Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Why we love them

Whether or not the aliens ever call, Grimes has kept the log book humanity deserves. Total conviction, two colours.

Go deeper

• Ken Grimes at the Outsider Art Fair
• Ken Grimes on Wikipedia
• christian berst art brut
• Where to see outsider art, our full list of museums and collections.
• The glossary, if any of the terms here are new.

Kindred spirits

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