Dried Citrus Sculptures by Daniel Watson

Click any image for larger view.
An Accidental Mysteries “Blast from the Past,” December 2008.

HERE ARE THREE PIECES OF TRUE OUTSIDER ART by a man named Daniel Watson, who is serving a life sentence in a California federal prison. In solitary confinement, Watson creates these strange items out of citrus skins. These 3 examples were done 10 years ago, in 1998. Described as “hovering somewhere between Pre-Columbian and alien,” these are good examples of his work. They were described by the past auction as being about 6 inches tall. Strange, skin-like and beautifully creepy, this just goes to show what one can do with a little time on his hands. I think they look a lot like Maiori designs for tattoos.

Who Was Harry Young?

Click any image for larger view.


Click any image for larger view.



WHO WAS HARRY YOUNG? WAS THE MAKER OF THIS RATHER UNUSUAL collection an obsessive artist with a penchant for cowboys? Was “Harry” (if that is really the artist’s name) a self-taught artist who had a wonderfully innate sense of collage, drawing and assembly—and this group of works just a fraction of his entire oeuvre? Or, was Harry Young just an ordinary child, infatuated (like many kids of the day) with cowboys and the wild west, this being the box of drawings his mother saved? No one really knows. Looking at more of the handwriting may yield some clues.

What we do know is what we see: a large intact set of small (6 to 10 inches in size) odd, child-like, compelling and visually strong works by an unknown artist. By looking at the work, there are stylistic hints that perhaps these works were done by an adult, like the collage for the faces, the attention to detail in the clothing and the sheer ability to create so many consistent works of a single theme. But more research needs to be done. It does appear the works are at least 50 to 75 years old.

According to the Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago, “over 350 cardboard figures of cowboys, lawmen and horses were found in a large wooden box with the words “Harry Young, 38 Inkerman, St. Thomas, ON” scratched on the inside. The vast majority are hand drawn. There are a handful of figures that have “collage” faces, which are cut from newspaper ads for cowboy movies. The box also contains a lot of other miscellaneous items, including a wearable Marshall’s badge and a small, handwritten book of “laws,” which establishes rules for cowboy life, morality and justice.”

Judge for yourself by visiting the Packer Schopf Gallery website.

Weekend Random Images

(Above) Manipulated self-portrait by homeless artist Lee Godie (1908 - 1995); Private Collection. (Click on image for larger view)


(Above) Stone carved sphinx by the late Ralph Doss Lanning (1916 - 2009); Collection of John Foster. (Click on image for larger view)



(Above) Young boxing fans meet the champs; Via Square America. (Click on image for larger view)



(Above) Paw prints on outer wall of hen house made by predators; Via Live From the Surface of the Moon. (Click on image for larger view)


(Above) When age and the elements work their magic: Via Candler Arts. (Click on image for larger view)

Stranger in Paradise: The Works of Reverend Howard Finster

STRANGER IN PARADISE: THE WORKS OF REVEREND HOWARD FINSTER opened January 28th at the Krannert Art Museum in Champaign, IL. This is an exhibition you should not miss if you like works that are visionary and self-taught. You see, Finster was not just an artist, he was special— a “stranger from another world,” a shape-shifter, a shaman who traveled between time and space to bring meaning and voice to us mortals of the world. There have been others like him—all put here for special reasons and purpose. Elvis Presley was one, John F. Kennedy, Rev. Martin Luther King, Ghandi—well, you get the idea. While some shape-shifters achieve greater things than others, Finster did his part to preach his word of peace and love.

If you don’t believe the above, and I’d understand if you did not, perhaps you’d just rather read the catalog.

Following is from the exhibition checklist:
An evangelistic preacher in paint and self-proclaimed Man of Visions, Reverend Howard Finster became one of the most widely known and prolific self-taught artists, producing over 46,000 pieces of art by his death in 2001. Finster often referred to himself as “a stranger from another world” and “God’s last red light on the planet earth.” He saw himself as a sacred artist, fulfilling his visionary prophesies revealed to him by God through a heavenly, outer space world. Thus Finster believed he was to disperse warnings to people to save their souls from the horrors of hell. These experiences were very real to Finster and provided a seemingly limitless variety of images for his art, and content for his rapid fire, stream of consciousness monologues.

In the mid-1960s, Finster began building a roadside park, first known as the Plant Farm Museum, an attraction meant to display all of “the inventions of mankind.” This soon transformed into an outdoor museum of collaged concrete sculpture, collections of unusual junk and recycled machine parts, hanging sun catchers, and buildings covered in paintings and signs. Later, in an 1975 article in Esquire magazine, it was dubbed “Paradise Garden,” and the name stuck.

Finster said he was “God's junk man.” Endlessly inventive, he took all manner of salvaged junk and discarded items, and using his ingenuity and tireless energy, created expressions of his personal visions. In his poem for the garden, he stated, “I took the pieces that you threw away and put them together by night and day, washed by the rain, dried by the sun, a million pieces all in one.”

This exhibition provides an in-depth survey of Finster’s career, covering the variety of themes inherent in his work, much of it relating to his visionary experiences, including: Visions of Other Worlds, Sermons in Paint, Historical and Cultural Heroes and The Plant Farm Museum [Paradise Garden].

There is an accompanying exhibition catalogue available for purchase.

February 23, 5:30 pm:
Film Screening and Panel Discussion • KAM Auditorium I Can Feel Another Planet in My Soul: Strange Visions. Wondrous Art. The Remarkable World of Howard Finster • A showing of excerpts from a documentary film still in progress on Howard Finster followed by a panel discussion with Steven Pattie, executive producer/program creator; Glen C. Davies, exhibition curator; Jim Arient, collector; and Randy Ott, collector

March 4, 5:30 pm:
Guest Lecture “An Inside Look at Outsider Art Environments: Monumental Expressions of Devotion, Evangelism, and Salvation,” a talk by Lisa Stone, author, adjunct associate professor, and curator of the Roger Brown Study Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Co-sponsored by Lorado Taft Lectureship on Art; School of Art + Design; Department of Landscape Architecture; and Krannert Art Museum

A fully illustrated catalog will include essays by the exhibition curator, Jim Arient (representative of the Arient family, who are principle lenders to the exhibition), Phyllis Kind (President of the Phyllis Kind Gallery), and Norman J. Girardot (Professor of Religious Studies, Lehigh University) and a checklist of works in the exhibition.

Schedule:
Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion
January 29 through March 28, 2010

Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
July 24 through September 26, 2010

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art,
Auburn University, Auburn, AL
December 11, 2010 to March 12, 2011

Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL
April 22 through August 28, 2011

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN
November 10, 2011 through January 15, 2012

Photos above by Dr. James F. (see them here.)

Some Tramp Art Beauties

(Above) A magnificent tramp art wall case with door and drawer.

(Above) A tramp art frame, with pronounced corners.


(Above) A beautifully ornate frame, made in the tramp art tradition.


(Above) A stunning tramp art clock case, with drawer.
(Above) For detailed and fragile ornamentation like you see above to have survived intact is quite rare. Usually, extensions like these never survive to present day.

GEORGE AND SUE VIENER OF READING, PENNSYLVANIA HAVE BEEN MY FRIENDS FOR MANY YEARS. THEY LOVE FOLK AND SELF-TAUGHT ART AS MUCH AS ANYONE I KNOW. THEIR COLLECTING “BUG” finally got the best of them and so they decided they would sell some of their collection. The result is the Outsider Folk Art Gallery, located at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading.

These tramp art pieces are as fine as any I have seen. Check out all of their art for sale here. If you have questions, this isn’t at all like a lot of stuffy big city galleries. George or Sue will explain anything or answer any question you might have. They have a lot of art to view.

Veijo Rönkkönen’s Sculpture Garden (Parikkala, Finland)

(Above) Figures in Viejo’s concrete garden appear to be exercising. Click image for larger view.

(Above) Lumberjack at rest. Click image for larger view.

(Above) An entire parade of concrete figures line a pathway on the site. Click image for larger view.

(Above) More figures—doing yoga? Click image for larger view.

(Above) Click image for larger view.

(Above) A long-eared rabbit. Click image for larger view.

(Above) Trees of Veijo’s own fantasy exhibit “speaker-like” cones. Click image for larger view.

(Above) Another view. Click image for larger view.

(Above) A facial detail of a figure. Click image for larger view.

(Above) Lichens and moss are having their way with this detail of a figure. Click image for larger view.

(Above) Figures are rarely passive in Veijo Rönkkönen’s art environment. Click image for larger view.

(Above) Frequent exercise give these figures a fit appearance. Click image for larger view.

(Above) Real human teeth on this figure add a creepy—but lifelike— appearance. Click image for larger view.

THROUGH SEVERAL STUMBLES ACROSS THE INTERNET, I FOUND INFORMATION ON A MOST AMAZING ART ENVIRONMENT IN the country of Finland. The text below is from the site Books From Finland, which features a book on the site by Veli Granö (born 1960), a photographer, writer and producer of video works and televised documentaries. The copy below is by Veli Granö and is © copyright by him.

Some images in this post came from the Flickr site by Sameli here.

Veijo Rönkkönen (born 1944) has lived all his life on an isolated, small farm in eastern Finland, Parikkala, less than a kilometre from the Russian border, where he has quietly built a garden inhabited by nearly five hundred human figures made of concrete. Entrance is free.

Even if Veijo has always been keen to know the audience’s reactions, he has never talked to visitors voluntarily or asked their opinion on his work. Yet he meets people almost daily when working in his garden and never refuses to speak to them. His answers to any questions concerning the sculptures are, however, very curt so that the inquirer immediately understands his reluctance to continue the conversation.

Despite his withdrawn character, Veijo has always placed importance on the role of viewers. From indoors he observes those walking in the garden and looks for anything out of the ordinary. Should someone stray onto the flowerbeds, he will open the window and tell them to return to the path.

As a result of the break-up of the Soviet Union, life on the Finnish side of the border zone became a little easier. The first thing to go was the ban on stopping near the border, then the ban on using binoculars and cameras. Security cameras replaced the soldiers in the nearby watchtower. As the rules were loosened, the roadsides near the sculpture park filled with cars parked in dangerous positions. Thus for security reasons the road authority decided that a car park was required. A tourist information board and signs were erected. Since 1992, there has also been a little shop that sells refreshments and postcards of the sculpture park.

Veijo’s sculpture park is the most notable tourist attraction in Parikkala, and it is regularly advertised in various media. Numerous tourists visit the site every summer, and the busiest summer thus far saw some 26,000 visitors. Despite its status of an ‘official’ sight, Veijo has kept the park as his private garden and has nothing todo with the tourist business that surrounds him. He has no connection to the shopkeeper either, although he has paid the shop a visit at night.

His refusal to have any part in the business side arises from his overarching need to remain absolutely independent. ‘What if I decide, all of a sudden, to close up the park?’ goes his reasoning. Nevertheless, the local entrepreneurs and promoters of tourism need not be too worried. An audience is essential to Veijo, and there has never been an entrance fee, regardless of the season or the time of day. His reserved attitude towards publicity gives the sculpture park its extraordinary ambience, and the visitors can experience the dialogue between the public and the private space.

The line of statues, along with most of the other works, can be seen as Veijo’s private carnival. By turning everyday values upside down, the carnival serves as a form of therapy. The motley crew of the un-Finnish- looking figures brings medieval carnival processions to mind. It is interesting to try to figure out the origins of these strange characters. The artist himself says he simply tried to fit as many different sculptures as possible into the group.

Veijo’s sculpture park can be seen as a reflection of his own life. The various parts and works express the stages of his life, from growing up with the dreams and fears that he experienced, to some signs of ageing and mature giving up. In many parts, one can sense tones of a persuasive dialogue. Some of the sculptures are provocative, even aggressive, whereas others produce a sensation of thorough consideration and an aspiration to achieve spiritual harmony. The park is like a portrayal of a personality, with all its doubtful and conflicting characteristics.

In 2007 Veijo Rönkkönen, the artist of a self-made life, was awarded a state award, the Finland Prize, worth €30,000. John Maizels, the British author and editor of the art magazine Raw Vision, considers Veijo Rönkkönen as one of the masters of outsider art.

Howard Finster: Man of Visions

(Above) Self-portrait by Howard Finster (1916 - 2001) Click on image for larger view.

Click on image for larger view.


I JUST SPOTTED THIS NICE PORTRAIT BY THE REVEREND HOWARD FINSTER, undoubtedly the most popular, most famous folk artist of the 20th century, on eBay this evening. Here’s the seller’s description of the piece:

“This LARGE self-portrait painting (compared to Howard’s typical self portraits), is cut out of wood with all paint embellishment (NO MARKER) created by Howard Finster (from God) himself! Painting is double numbered front and back as 5000*745 (5,745 th piece of art). The color of the paint is very bright and the condition is perfect and very stable. This is a beautiful piece of art, guaranteed to be the apex of any folk art painting collection. The painting measures 13-5/8 inches wide and 21-3/8 inches in height. The board is a 1/4 inch thick piece of solid wood.

There is a lot of Howard’s verbiage on this painting, all written by hand and done with paint and brush, NO MARKER.

Under his chin the painting it says: “HOWARD IN 1944”

Bottom LEFT front of Painting has:
“ALLWAYS GREAT THINGS AHEAD. WHY NOT BE READY TO MEET GOD. TAKE WARNING OF STORMS, EARTHQUAKES, FLOODS, FIRES, MUD SLIDES, VALCANOES SENDING OUT POISION GASS THE DIESESE, INSECT PEST HEALTHY PEOPLE GETTING KILLED, EVERY DAY. WHY RUN A RISK”

Bottom RIGHT front of Painting has:
“4:44 PAST MIDNIGHT”
“BY HOWARD FINSTER
“FROM GOD. 5000 • 745”
“WORKS OF ART. VISION”
OF OTHER WORLD”

Back of Painting (in black marker) has:
“5000.745 WORKS OF ART SINCE 1976 OVER 10-YEARS WORK NIGHT AND DAY FOR YOU ALL BY HOWARD FINSTER SUMMERVILLE GA 30747 R•2 BOX 106-A PH 404) 857•2926
and in script: “God Bless You All” Howard Finster (signature) OCT•17•1986

“TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE DON.T. COUN.T. ON IT LIVE: BY FAITH IN THE LORD IT IS THE BEST WAY ON EARTH” and in script again: “Believe me i KNOW”

There is a “Buy it Now” price of $3200.

The Roger Brown Study Collection

(Above) Upstairs, front room of the Roger Brown Study Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Click for larger view.

(Above) The yellow painting above is an early Karl Wirsum and below, a red and blue abstraction by artist Barbara Rossi. Click for larger view.

(Above) Painting by Christina Ramberg, one of the original Chicago Imagists who died in 1995 at the young age of 49. Click for larger view.

(Above) A fine relief carving by the great Elijah Pierce (1892 -1984), a barber/preacher and artist from Columbus, OH. Click for larger view.

(Above) An entire room of Joseph Yoakum (1886 - 1972) paintings was breath-taking to view. Click for larger view.

(Above) Brown was a voracious collector of cool stuff. I understand his love for the odd and quirky. Click for larger view.

(Above) A hand-carved 1940’s-50’s advertising figure caught my eye. Click for larger view.

(Above) This powerful carving of a monkey-like animal was most likely made by an anonymous artist. Click for larger view.

(Above) A painting by Chicago artist Mike Noland, a well-known and highly collected painter whose work follows in the tradition of the Chicago Imagists.
Click for larger view.

(Above) This circus banner was huge and draped down a stairwell. Click for larger view.

(Above) This is a great “cheesecake” painting on a barrel lid, very well done. Anonymous artist. Click for larger view.


(Above) Carving by self-taught artist William Dawson (1901 - 1989). Click for larger view.

(Above) A strange and surreal masterpiece by the great self-taught artist Drossos Skyllas (1912 - 1973). Click for larger view.

(Above) A “yellow cab” painting on a found object (an iron) by Roger Brown. Click for larger view.

SEVERAL WEEKS AGO I HAD THE PLEASURE OF VISITING THE ROGER BROWN STUDY COLLECTION located in Chicago. I had been there once before several years ago, and for the most part, it was as I remember it. It is run by curator Lisa Stone and is now a part of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

From the RBSC Web site:

“Established in 1997, the Roger Brown Study Collection (RBSC) is an artists’ study collection and archive, preserved intact in a historic house museum setting. Located off campus in artist and SAIC alumnus Roger Brown’s former home, an 1888 storefront building at 1926 North Halsted Street, the RBSC is an intimate collection with an astonishing range of objects, including works by Chicago Imagists and other contemporary artists, self-taught artists, folk and tribal art from many cultures, objects from material and popular culture, costumes, textiles, furniture, travel souvenirs, and other things Brown surrounded himself with for artistic inspiration.

The RBSC archive is a comprehensive collection of the artist’s personal and working life, and includes Brown’s sketchbooks, library, slides and photographs, personal and professional correspondence, writings, architectural drawings, studies for large-scale projects, and prints and works on paper. The collection is installed as Brown left it, throughout the second floor of the building and two stairways; the archive is on the first floor.”

Contact the RBSC:
Roger Brown Study Collection,
1926 North Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60614
Telephone: 773. 929-2452
Fax: 773. 665-4802 Email: lstone@saic.edu