＊“我们对这位艺术家的认识愈深，愈明白我们才刚开始理解他的非凡成就。”知名艺术评论家Roberta Smith
被关在精神病院长达 30 年，还长期服用安眠药的艺术家 Martin Ramirez创造了超过 450 幅动态绘画和拼贴画。透过使用重复线条和奇特的图案，Ramirez 超出常态地创作了以挣脱束缚边界，甚至是时间本身为主题的一幅引人注目的直观世界。
Martín Ramírez出生在墨西哥，之后移民到美国，语言不通、失业、流离失所让他备受挫折，后来还得了精神分裂症。他待过加州好几间精神医疗院，先被诊断为躁郁症，后来被判定为僵直型精神分裂，就这样，他再也不开口说话，被误认为又聋又哑。他在医院时，全心画画，他的作品有很多都是马和歧视、火车和隧道、圣母、与墨西哥哈利斯科地区的风景。70年来，这位伟大的自学艺术家，对他的家人来说几乎不存在…
他的作品曾和多位大师的作品一同展出，包括José Clemente Orozco、Diego Rivera、Rufino Tamayo、Salvador Dalí、Marc Chagall、Paul Klee与Joan Miró。2007年，American Folk Art Museum展出了他的作品，这场展览打破的到展人次记录，也得到了主流媒体的关注与赞扬，包括 New York Times、New Yorker与Village Voice。
作者Víctor Espinosa透过钻研这位艺术家的生平，让我们知道Ramírez是如何将自己的回忆，包括在墨西哥的生活以及在美国流离失所的经验，转化成强而有力的艺术作品，也让我们了解到大多数群众难以理解的非主流艺术。本书作者也追溯了Ramírez从1950年代的无名作品到近代展览上，以近五十万美元售出的个别作品。书中谈及这位艺术家在加州精神病院里的三十个年头，他的病虽然将他污名化，但也同时保护了他的作品。撇除“精神病艺术家”与“非主流大师”两个标签，Martín Ramírez 证明了他的作品不是被动的精神疾病表现，他所画的都是自己文化经验与生理上的疏离。
好评
"Martín Ramírez is an important and much-needed work in the messy, at times superficial, and often contradictory field of ‘outsider’ art. There are actually very few knowledgeable, serious, and sensitive works assessing the whole field or a particular artist. With both considerable knowledge and passion, Víctor Espinosa fervently tells the story of Martín Ramírez and his role in the making of the outsider myth in all of its poignant and pathetic glory. This book will take its place as one of the handful of truly important works in the outsider field."
—Norman Girardot, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Lehigh University, and author of Envisioning Howard Finster: The Religion and Art of a Stranger from Another World
"Víctor Espinosa’s passion for Martín Ramírez—his life and his art—has led to this illuminating volume. Espinosa details new biographical information about this important twentieth-century artist, and introduces previously unknown participants in the artist’s story, particularly during the time of his stay in Auburn, California. For anyone interested in American art, this is an essential read."
—Brooke Davis Anderson, Executive Director, US Biennial, and curator of the exhibitions Martín Ramírez and Martín Ramírez: The Last Works
"Elegant in both prose and argument, Espinosa’s book untangles Ramírez’s work from the conditions within which it has been defined in order to celebrate the radical complexities of the artist’s aesthetics and the power of recognizing him as “an example of resistance, survival, and artistic agency from the perspective of a subaltern subjectivity."
—Publishers Weekly
"Intellectually rigorous and deeply moving . . . As Espinosa tracks the path of Ramírez’s work out into the art world in this meticulous, corrective, and humanizing portrait of a remarkably persevering artist, he raises disquieting questions about immigration, race, mental illness, creativity, and how we categorize and value art."
—Booklist, starred review
对这位艺术家的赞扬:
"Ramírez . . . is simply one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He belongs to the group of accessible, irresistible genius draftsmen that includes Paul Klee, Saul Steinberg, and Charles Schulz."
—Roberta Smith, New York Times
"Ramírez created something transcendently powerful, beautiful, and new. Not only is Ramírez the best of the so-called ‘Self-Taught’ or ‘Outsider’ artists . . . but he ranks as among the greatest artists of the 20th century . . ."
—Jerry Saltz, Village Voice
"Martín Ramírez . . . is my favorite outsider artist. Come to that, he’s one of my favorite artists, period."
—Peter Schjeldahl, New Yorker
关于作者
Victor M. Espinosa是研究Martín Ramírez 的专家之一，也是跨国移民与艺术的权威，他有Northwestern University 的社会学博士学位，目前在Ohio State University任教。他也是El dilema del retorno: Migración, género y pertenencia en un contexto transnacional一书的作者。
