I am a little amazed that this currently the only piece of Howard Finster art on CAF, besides one that Hakes is currently listing to promote its auction which concluded a few days ago.
Eccentric Georgia artist Howard Finster provided album covers for R.E.M. ("Reckoning" in 1984), Talking Heads ("Little Creatures" in 1985), and Adam Again ("In a New World of Time" in 1986). He decorated his home with over 46,000 pieces of art, often with painted text reflecting his calling as a Baptist minister.
This time, Finster's text, with its typically haphazard punctuation, takes an unusually prominent position. He offers a common evangelical explanation of John 14:12, in which Jesus tells his disciples: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." (I quote the King James Version, with which Finster would have been best acquainted.)
The borders offer intriguing designs which may or may not be representational. Center top has a wicker pattern, while the right edge has colored expanding squares, black and white cross-hatching, and striated arcs as if to leave no space unfilled. The bottom right exhortation is clear enough. The bottom left corner resembles human profiles, perhaps repeated smaller in the top right corner with a bird (the Holy Spirit as a dove?) overhead. The top left corner suggests a starfield with ocean waves and a small dog.
The frame (which may not have been from Finster) is a work all its own, a repeating painted cloverleaf pattern of overlapping circles and semicircles. It was clearly painted first, cut, and reassembled into a rectangle. The right side of the top rail and the left side of the bottom rail appear to have originally been contiguous. The left and right rails do not appear to have originally been immediately contiguous either to each other or to the top or bottom, based on the interruptions of the leaf patterns.
This piece came from Larry Clemons' extensive collection of cinema posters, pop music memorabilia, and outsider art. He displayed his work at Gallery 721 in Panama City and died in April 2020 at the age of 62.
