WHEN: Opens Saturday, February 25 and runs through June 3, 2012.
WHERE: Akron Art Museum
TITLE: Stranger in Paradise: The Works of Reverend Howard Finster
BRIEF ABOUT: Born in 1916, Finster went on to become a preacher, tent revivalist and a “master of 22 different trades” before building his roadside tribute to inventors in Summerville, Georgia, later dubbed “Paradise Gardens” by Esquire magazine.
In 1976, he began making artworks when he saw the apparition of God’s face on his thumb in white paint while repairing a bicycle. God told him to make sacred art; thusly, going on to produce thousands of sermon-laden artworks with subjects ranging from historical characters and popular culture icons to evangelistic fantasy landscapes and futuristic cities.
Most works overflow with biblical verse and stories rendered in Finster’s own meticulously hand-lettered words. He believed he was to disperse warnings to people to save their souls from the horrors of hell.
MORE DETAILS: Call 330.376.9185 or www.AkronArtMuseum.org.