Some of us live outside the mainstream of contemporary society. This may be due to circumstance or choice or a bit of both. His Asperger's Syndrome*, undiagnosed for most of his life, forced zeke into an isolation that was in some part imposed, in part inherent with any form of autism and in part necessary for his survival.
An autistic person is generally limited in their ability to fit within society and often feels an overwhelming sense of being strange, unusual, pursued and even attacked. They feel strange and the world around them seems strange. It can feel as though one is in limbo, always floating, never anchored, wanting to fit and not knowing how. This creates a tension that is, at times, unbearable. Zeke's autism created a worldview that is unique to him, while his isolation allowed the expression of his worldview to emerge through art, all these years later, without prejudice.
As an undiagnosed autistic child, barely existing in the structured school system and United States of the 1950s, he retreated further and further from the pressure to conform. Not being able to adjust, he simply learned to mimic "normal" behavior and his art was pushed into his sub-conscious as if he were protecting it from the daily pressures of his life. Now, in his 50's, zeke has found a voice for his long-suppressed talent.
His inherent understanding of line, color and form has translated into a melange of creative expression from drawing, painting, assemblage and mixed media work. We can see influences of other cultures, primordial archetypes and modern society, but the voice is his own and the work transcends the norm.
Truly Art Brut in the sense of being uninfluenced by study, coming from a unique psychological state and untrained, his art is created from his internal world and dialogue. Sometimes disturbing, sometimes strangely archaic, sometimes naive and playful, we see a range of expression that is compelling, moving and exciting. He now is able to achieve expression of a full range of emotions in a way that, for him, makes sense and is comfortable.
Zeke feels it important for people to understand that his expression through art is not fantasy or illusionary or the product of a "sick mind." Instead it is his reality, a reality that many might see if socialized differently or if they simply allowed themselves to embrace their inherent genetic or archetypal perspectives. Zeke's communication with "the mystery," as he calls it, began in childhood, but was solidified with a death experience in his early 30s. It is not a "psychological mire," but a deep understanding of nature, a greater reality and an actual communication with another world that he expresses with his art. He feels as though he is actually looking back at us from this other world, that is as much a reality for him as our world is for us. Caves, the sea, animals and forests are where he can be free to communicate with this other world. His art is a fundamental expression of a primitive response that he says most of us are capable of achieving and which draws us to petroglyphs, ancient cultures and mythology.
When his talent is mentioned, zeke doesn't see it in a way that fits within those societal parameters. He indicates that art is his language and he is communicating in a voice that is, finally, comfortable. After a long struggle and, eventually, a proper diagnosis of his autism, he has accepted he will never fit in and chooses to pursue a simple life that is free from the struggle to mimic and conform. He has found his voice, his language, again. Now it is up to us to seek to understand him and his world, not the other way around.
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*Asperger's Syndrome, added to the DSM IV in 1994, is currently considered an Autism Spectrum disorder and runs the spectrum from mild to severe. Generally highly functional compared to people with other forms of autism, A
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