Description

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Out of My Head: The Imaginary Creatures of Josep Baqué tells the unbelievable story of a World War II-era police officer in Barcelona who in his private time created 1500 imaginary creatures and told not a soul about them.

In this first-ever critical biography of Baqué, art historian, author, and curator Brian Chidester reflects the artist and his creation through the prism of 20th century art, the Franco dictatorship in Spain (1939–75), and the few correlative records in Baqué’s personal archive.

Yet the book doubles as a manual of sorts on the creative process, and most fascinatingly, speaks to the deeper role the imagination plays in overcoming oppression through wonder.

About the Author

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Brian Chidester is an art historian, author, documentarian, and journalist. Exhibitions he has curated include: One Day You’ll See: A History of Afrofuturism and Charles A.A. Dellschau and the Mythology of Flight. He is a contributor of articles and reviews for The American Prospect, The Atlantic, L.A. Weekly, Paste, and The Village Voice, and is the author of Pop Surf Culture: Music, Design, Film, and Fashion from the Bohemian Surf Era (Santa Monica Press). Chidester has also been a writer/researcher/producer of documentaries for the BBC, PBS, and Showtime, and is the director of the feature-length film As the Wind: The Enchanted Life of Eden Ahbez. He lives in New York City.

Josep Baqué was born in 1895 in Barcelona where he worked as a policeman for much of his life. His bound collection of 1500 imaginary creatures (or bestiary) remained hidden to all but himself and his family until its rediscovery over forty years after his death in 1967.

Praise For…

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A stunningly comprehensive collection of work we're truly lucky to be able to see, Baque was the ultimate "outsider artist." ... A critical biography on the one hand and field guide to one of the most unique, and unheralded, imaginations of the 20th century on the other — that it's finally been given its due is reason to celebrate.

— Four Color Apocalypse