In the tradition of Jim Shaw’s “Thrift Shop Paintings,” this collection of street posters, mad scribblings, political screeds, religious rants, and paranoid raves expands our notion of the Outsider arts to include the written word.

Formally striking, emotionally charged, and bizarre beyond belief, these graphical works dovetail with the historic traditions of concrete poetry and art brut. Seamlessly melding text and image, their obsessive quality evokes Adolf Wölfli and Henry Darger’s visionary works.

Featured in the exhibition will be the work of David Daniels, a 73 year-old Bay Area artist, who has been creating insanely complex visual poems using only Microsoft Word. Works from two of his epic series, “The Gates of Paradise” and “Years” will be featured.

Coinciding with the exhibition will be three public events.

On Saturday, September 23rd at 2 p.m., author Irwin Chusid will deliver a lecture on Outsider Music called, “Songs in the Key of Z.”

On Saturday, September 30th, renowned poets and performers Eileen Myles, Edwin Torres, Vijay Seshadri, Kenneth Goldsmith and Shelley Hirsch will stage a reading of Outsider writings.

On Saturday, October 7th, a panel, “Outside In” will explore the transmigration of Outsider aesthetics and practices influencing and entering into the mainstream. Panelists include Wayne Koestenbaum, Alissa Quart and David Grubbs.