"Elvis at 3 is an angel to me", paint on routed board, signed and dated 1976 on rear, numbered 5000,877. An early work. Interestingly, Finster lists his current address in Summerville, GA along with his phone number.

29" ht. x 10" wd.

Howard Finster (1916-2001). Howard Finster is the very definition of a self taught visionary artist. He served 13 churches as a Baptist Minister beginning in 1938 until one day in 1976 he dipped his finger in white paint and a face appeared extolling him to "make sacred things." He went on to create almost 36,000 works of art dating and numbering each one. His masterpiece in Summerville, Georgia is Paradise Gardens -- a tangle of bicycles, a universe of cement structures encrusted with all manor of objects, a casket laden Cadillac, an aviary, and a parade of figures painted on the sides of his buildings. He warned about the hazards of strong drink, extolling the advantages of Coke. His coke bottle figures have a row of inverted heads --- "Some people would stand on their head for a good cold coke." He imagined himself as a young Elvis and the industrious young Henry Ford. Ref: Smithsonian Museum of American Art and "Paradise Gardens" Peacock 1996. "Raw Vision" Magazine # 37.

From the lifetime collection of living folk artist Dewey Blocksma, Beulah, Michigan. Blocksma acquired most pieces directly from the artists.

Excellent condition