Description
Book SynopsisFinster 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. This book explores the life and religious-artistic significance of Finster and his work.
Trade Review"An important book for anyone interested in outsider art, folk art, Southern studies, and American religion." - STARRED REVIEW Library Journal "Entertaining and insightful ... a thoroughly researched and illuminating book." -- John Foster Raw Vision "How [Girardot] came to write a book about Finster and Finster's art after a decade and a half of visiting him- and an additional decade of visiting his garden-is a story in itself, and Girardot's book is as much about that narrative as it is about the mythico-religious structure behind Finster's immense quantity of artwork. In many ways, this book is sui generis." Art Papers "Gives the flavor of the particular religious environment from which Finster emerged and how he transformed it through his art... Of importance, and contrary to typical readings of the work, the only fundamentalism that Girardot recognizes in Finster is the artist's own fundamental strangeness. But the core of that strangeness was core to his liberating message." The Outsider "Densely written but supremely readable. Much of its density comes from the author's often hilarious and often riotously poetic language, which echoes the ecstatic excesses of Paradise Garden itself... His inquiry, which both complicates and elucidates the Finster myth, demonstrates why Finster's lifework matters." Folk Art Messenger
Table of ContentsNote on Internet Citations and Additional Web Resources Preface: Stories about Stories Introduction. Once upon a Time: Encountering the Word Made Flesh 1. On the Finster Trail: The Business of Howard Finster's Divine Busyness 2. Signs of the Times: Howard Finster and Prophetic Reenchantment 3. The Matter of My Mission: Howard Finster's Religious Template 4. The First and Second Noah: Howard Finster's Ark of Myth and Meaning 5. The Finster Mythos: Just the Facts in Howard Finster's Mythic Life 6. Snakes in the Garden: Life and Death in Paradise 7. The Strange Beauty of Bad and Nasty Art: Toward a Finsterian Aesthetic Conclusion. Howard Finster: The Hidden Man of the Heart Notes Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Index
