Art News

Krannert Art Museum to Present the Works of Reverend Howard Finster

Howard Finster - Matthew Arient’s Angel (6927),1987 - Tractor enamel on wood. - Collection of Matthew J. Arient.

CHAMPAIGN, IL.- Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead
Pavilion will present Stranger in Paradise: The Works of Reverend Howard
Finster. A self-proclaimed “Man of Visions,” Finster was one of America’s most
widely known and prolific self-taught artists
, producing over
46,000 pieces of art before his death in 2001.
Born in rural Alabama in
1916, Finster went on to become a preacher, tent revivalist, and “master of 22
different trades” before building his roadside tribute to inventors, the Plant
Farm Museum. Later dubbed “Paradise Garden” by Esquire magazine, this rock- and
junk-encrusted wonderland was the focus of Finster’s life work. On view
29 January through 28 March, 2010.