A01=Norman J. Girardot
alabama
album covers
american art
apocalypse
art criticism
art history
artist
Author_Norman J. Girardot
biblical imagery
biography
Category=AFC
Category=AGA
Category=AGB
cult artist
cultural icons
divine inspiration
elvis presley
environmental art
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eschatology
flying saucers
folk art
george washington
henry ford
marilyn monroe
mona lisa
nature
nonfiction
outer space
outsider art
paradise garden
popular culture
religious art
religious symbolism
rem
revelation
reverend howard finster
sacred art
south
spirituality
talking heads
tonight show
visionary art
Product details
- ISBN 9780520261105
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 26 Jun 2015
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The Reverend Howard Finster (1916 2001) was called the backwoods William Blake" and the Andy Warhol of the South," and he is considered the godfather of contemporary American folk and visionary art. This book is the first interpretive analysis of the intertwined artistic and religious significance of Finster's work within the context of the American outsider art" tradition. Finster began preaching as a teenager in the South in the 1930s. But it was not until he received a revelation from God at the age of sixty that he began to make sacred art. A modern-day Noah who saw his art as a religious crusade to save the world before it was too late, Finster worked around the clock, often subsisting on a diet of peanut butter and instant coffee. He spent the last years of his life feverishly creating his environmental artwork called Paradise Garden and what would ultimately number almost fifty thousand works of bad and nasty art." This was visionary work that obsessively combined images and text and featured apocalyptic biblical imagery, flying saucers from outer space, and popular cultural icons such as Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Henry Ford, Mona Lisa, and George Washington.
In the 1980s and 90s, he developed cult celebrity status, and he appeared in the Venice Biennale and on the Tonight Show. His work graced the album covers of bands such as R.E.M. and Talking Heads. This book explores the life and religious-artistic significance of Finster and his work from the personal perspective of religion scholar Norman Girardot, friend to Finster and his family during the later years of the artist's life.
Norman Girardot is University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of religion at Lehigh University.
