1.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/11… - Mexican artist Martín Ramírez from mental institution. From this study they found more artists to have depression, and/or bi-polar disorder and share more personality traits with the mentally ill than “normal” people in less creative pursuits.
2. Art and Insanity:
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/06/arts/a…
3.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-… - Stephen Wiltshire’s art, who is autistic.
4.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/no… -
5.
http://www.chowk.com/Views/Education/Are…
I know many artists who are "different" and "unusual", sometimes emotional, depressed...not yet insane (that I know of). We do crawl inside ourselves to pull out of our psyches "things" that no one else can see or know, they're personal from experiences or just life happenings, then we put them down on paper, carvings, canvas, etc. Those "things" are there to get out and sometimes just shared. Artists, as I know myself, can be overwhelmed with emotions, both good or bad. To maintain some sort of "normal" we do art, get it out, in hopes that it moves viewers or sells...this is just the tip of an iceburg.
'Hope some of this helps you.