Howard Finster Oil and Marker on Wood Panel "Art of the Last Days"

Item Details

Provenance
Purchased from artist by consignor.

An oil and marker composition on wood panel titled Art of the Last Days by visionary folk artist, poet, and musician Reverend Howard Finster (American; 1916-2001), executed May 21st, 1992. Numbered 24, 397 on the front and verso, this work features a pair of red eyes surrounded by compulsively handwritten Bible verses and faces on a wood panel painted red, white, and blue. The work is signed, titled, and dated to the verso and is presented under a panel of acrylic glass.

Howard Finster was a minister for forty years in Alabama, where he was born. After retirement, he moved to Summerville, Georgia, where he turned his swampland into Paradise Garden in reflection of his religious beliefs and a vision that sent him on a mission to create sacred art. Finster used oil, watercolor, lacquer and other paints on found objects and salvaged pieces of glass and cardboard to make religious folk art compositions. His works have been featured on album covers for popular rock bands such as the Talking Heads which was featured as the 1985 album of the year in Rolling Stones Magazine. Perhaps most well known for his eight foot tall Coca-Cola bottle commissioned for the 1996 Olympic Games global art project. Finster promised God he would create 5,000 paintings in his lifetime and in the end created 46,991 numbered pieces.

Dimensions

Item #

17DCC325-250