Oil on canvas. Signed on the back. 25 1/2 x 29 1/4".

In 1964, Gabriel Capuano, then a Rhode Island teenager, was sentenced to two years in a maximum-security prison for a drug-related offense.

In prison, Capuano discovered and exhibited a talent for painting. The artist and gallerist Gene Tonoff discovered Capuano through a prison arts program and included the self-taught artist in an exhibition of prisoners’ art. The Providence Sunday Journal, in reviewing the show, featured Capuano’s work on its cover. Tonoff continued to show Capuano's work after his release, and Capuano continued to work as an outsider artist and create artwork throughout the rest of his short life.

The psychedelic drug publications included in this auction, including the well-worn 1966 first edition of "Psychedelic Prayers" by Timothy Leary, belonged to the artist and are from his estate.

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