1996 Howard Finster Mixed-media Panel
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GUEST:
When I was living in Birmingham, Alabama, I attended a regional arts and crafts show in Tuscaloosa. And Howard Finster was there in person. His family was also promoting his artwork. I sort of fell in love with it because of its uniqueness. And I ended up purchasing it.
APPRAISER:
When was it?
GUEST:
Around 1996, according to the date on the work. But he has since passed away.
APPRAISER:
Howard started having visions as a young man, and by the time he was in his teens, he was already preaching. He preached for over 40 years. He worked very hard to get his message out about the Gospel, and he felt he wasn't being heard. So in the 1940s, he started building these sort of garden museums. And he built one around his home, and he ran out of space. And he was desperate to get the message out, so he built a larger one in Pennville, which he began in 1961. And this became the Plant Farm Museum. He was a minister, but to pay the bills and take care of his family, he was also a fix-it man. He was a house painter. He was a carpenter, a bricklayer. He fixed bicycles and lawnmowers. And so when he started his museum garden, he incorporated all of the bicycle parts and Coke bottles and fake jewelry and toys, and verses from the Bible, into this amazing, magical garden. And you can still go and see this wonderful garden today. It's now called the Paradise Garden. His art started to take off from there. People would come to the garden and would actually request pieces that he would carve out of walkways for them. And then in 1976, he had another vision. This time it was a vision, God told him he needed to paint. The order from God was, he needed to paint 5,000 pictures to get the Gospel out to the people. So he would number his pictures. So what we're seeing on the front is a lengthy verse, and it's signed down here by Howard Finster. And we have the date, as well. What we also have is the number. He kind of made his goal.
GUEST:
Goal.
APPRAISER:
It's a combination of media. He worked in oil, but he also used regular house paint. So he tended to use whatever he had available. We can see there's even more information on the reverse. The number is repeated on the back, as well as the date. And the verse continues. And often, as he would paint for people, he would preach, as well. He was just a man who loved an audience.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And quite the character. In the early 1980s, a rock band by the name of R.E.M., who was also from Georgia, saw his garden, and they filmed their music
video...
GUEST:
Oh, very interesting.
APPRAISER:
"Radio Free Europe"...
GUEST:
Very interesting.
APPRAISER:
"Radio Free Europe" was filmed in, in his Paradise Garden. And from that moment, he came into more of the mainstream. He did album covers for R.E.M., and for the Talking Heads. Can you tell me what you paid for it at the time?
GUEST:
As I remember, approximately $300.
APPRAISER:
And in the current market, you're probably looking more like $1,000 to $1,500, were you to sell it at auction.
GUEST:
That's very good. I'll enjoy it.
APPRAISER:
If you were to insure it, I would probably just about double that figure.
GUEST:
Very good.
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