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Howard Finster

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Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Howard Finster, Untitled (painted rock), 1984

Howard Finster American, 1916-2001

Untitled (painted rock), 1984
Enamel on found rock
8 x 18 x 10 in.
HF 18 3D

Provenance

"Dear Victor (if I may), I'm sorry that I will miss you on Sunday, but I'm glad to know about your Finster work. And it is interesting in that it is an early work (1984). It's also an important work in that it represents the ""tractor enamel"" period in Finster's evolution as an artist when he was in a white heat of creativity and was trying out every possible medium, in this case a rock. When I first met him in 85 he was still doing such things and often used them as decorative touches around the chapel building, but this could have been placed elsewhere (do you know where it was placed). It's also quite expressive of some of his signature moves as an artist -- e.g. the fact that he gives the whole rock dual faces and a personality (in his stylized way concerning the eyes, nose, etc) and on one side he depicts a kind of greenish ""found"" creature that sprouts a bunch of other pareidolia-type interlocking heads. Despite Finster's evangelical worldview, this work suggests that his visionary worldview was largely ""animistic"" (in terms of the spiritual ""faces""/personalities of all forms of matter). In many ways, this is a piece that represents the quintessential Finster. This would be a valuable one-of-a-kind work for anyone who is truly a Finster connoisseur. Regards, Norman p.s. do you have any other Finster works? -- Norman Girardot University Distinguished Professor Emeritus Religion Studies Department Lehigh University Mailing Address: 54 E. Church St., Bethlehem PA 18018 USA cell: 484 515-8818"
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