Learning About The Gray Area Between Madness and Christian Ecstasy

Another book I took to the beach was The Colorful Apocalypse: Journeys in Outsider Art by Greg Bottoms.  It was so good I read it in one day.  I expected this book to be a little more like Colin Rhodes' book, which I purchased at the same time for Budd; one with artist bios and pictures.  The Colorful Apocalypse was quite different - not a picture in sight except for the cover art, by William Thomas Thompson and Norbert Kox.

Mr. Bottoms travelled to meet with the family of the Rev. Howard Finster, whom he had seen years earlier in a documentary depicting his famous Paradise Gardens in Georgia.  Finster began the Gardens in 1961 before receiving a vision to create religious or sacred art in 1976. 

Bottoms then travels to meet William Thomas Thompson and his family, living in an antebellum mansion in Greenville, South Carolina.  Thompson is most famous for a  300-foot painting of The Revelation, entitled Revelation Revealed.  The painting is in six sections of 50 feet each.  Bottoms reveals that Thompson's family, deeply rooted in the Pentecostal church, has great disdain for his artwork, and would not even allow the art depicted on the cover, which was co-created by Thompson and Norbert Kox, to come into their home because of its depiction of Christ with a dagger through the forehead.  Bottoms interviews Thompson extensively and the transactions are fascinating.  Thompson's beliefs are deeply rooted in what most would consider hardcore fundamentalist Christianity, yet he is vehemently anti-church, and believes that the Church is anti-Christ.  At the end of his interviews, which apparently span some several years, Thompson's wife gives him a tape of their 50th wedding anniversary, and tells Bottoms that Thompson "wasn't always like this...he was a family man, a church-going man, a business man..." as if Thompson has lost all respect in his family's eyes due to his artwork, which he is driven to paint.

Bottoms' final subject is Norbert Kox, an ex-Outlaw motorcycle club member living above an abandoned general store in Wisconsin.  His living space is filled with junk he has collected for his art, most noticeably the body parts of baby dolls which he uses for his anti-abortion art.  He has a unique ability to recreate Warner Sallman's famous painting of Jesus, seen in almost every Protestant church in America.  Kox used that image  to create an exhibit entitled "Picture Perfect Jesus: The Glamourous Fraud".  Take a look at this interesting slideshow of Kox's work. 

The Colorful Apocalypse is an utterly fascinating study of these three people who are compelled to share their belief with the world through their artwork.  You may not agree with their beliefs, but they certainly are thought-provoking.  As William Thomas Thompson put it, "I'm not ashamed of my belief, and I'm not crazy because of what I believe."  I think he's right about that.  

I recommend this book highly for those interested in outsider art and religious iconography and its impact on our cultural development and beliefs.  The artists profiled are interesting and likeable people, too, and Bottoms does a great job in highlighting their personalities and beliefs without being condescending or judgmental.   While Finster has passed away, Thompson and Kox are two people that I think would be very intriguing to meet.

...Your Husband Will Not Telegram "Love" To You!

From Good Housekeeping Magazine, 1940.  Poor dear.  If only she had put on that stank-purty.

Birthing an Event - Like Birthing A Kid?

I am so excited about Blogsboro.com's first event, "Joetry - An Open Mic Event of Poetry, Prose, Song and Coffee" that's going to be held at The Coffee Break, 1820 Spring Garden Street on Jan. 27 at 4:00 p.m.  The Coffee Break is just a terrific space perfect for this kind of event, and the good folks who own and run the place have graciously allowed us to hold the event in their great venue. 

I know my good friend and partner, Billy "The Blogging Poet" Jones will be reading from one of his books...I hope he does "Carrot on a Stick" again.  I just love that poem.  And my darling Budd will also be reading an excerpt from one of his stories.  We're hoping to attract many more performers and make it a wonderful and fun event.  Jerry from The Coffee Break tells me that Patrick Murphy will also be doing a musical performance.

This promises to be the start of something really wonderful; a place for artists to gather, perform, and enjoy each other, as well as a place for the public to come and hear, and enjoy yummy beverages and desserts from The Coffee Break.  I'm so impressed with this new business, and want to do all I can to help keep it around.  Once you've been there, you'll see how cozy and inviting it is, and how great the offerings are.  I saw my friend Elizabeth Castelda from Coldwell Banker Triad Realtors there last night, and she remarked how much she liked The Coffee Break.  It's a great place to network and close a business deal.  Elizabeth's got something exciting and "green" in the works in Greensboro which we will be profiling here on Blogsboro soon.

Since this is the first event I've put together for Blogsboro, I'm just flush with pride.  I do hope you will join Team Blogsboro as we work together to keep art, poetry and music (and a great new business) alive and well in Greensboro.

Incredible Black & White Photos

I StumbledUpon this blog and saw some eye-popping photography, lots of surrealist suggestion, and definitely some digitally enhanced images by Chema Madoz.  I'd love to have all of these hanging on my walls, but seeing as how I only really have 8 of those, and they are covered in books, the Internets will have to do.

Poetry Alive and Well in Greensboro

My husband, Budd Wilkins, took these photos last night at the poetry reading hosted by Jordan Green of Yes! Weekly.  We had a wonderful time, and Budd also read an excerpt from his latest short story, Plush Life.  Clement Mallory and Ron Whitehead were mesmerizing and performed for an appreciative crowd.  The Blogsboro Team hopes to host some events like this in the near future, so stay tuned!  We would like to personally thank Jordan for his hospitality, and his wonderful poem.

Listeners 

Clement Mallory

Billy Jones reciting Carrot on a Stick

Our very own Billy Jones
Clement Mallory's amazing performance

Having a good time!
The "In-to Poetry" Crowd
Danny on guitar
Jordan reading his poem
Ron Whitehead
Ron Whitehead 

Billy's post about the guitar-playing dog reminded me of my friend Mat Kamler, creator of Litterbox, the world's greatest cat heavy metal band.  Mat's site, EyeEnvision, is a flash cartoon animation site featuring original webtoons by Mat.  Mat photographed 3 of his 5 cats and recorded their meowing and set them to music.  The first time I ever saw a Litterbox video, I nearly busted a gut, and my cat (at the time) started hissing in time.  Here's a link to my personal favorite, Four on the Floor.  Mat has seven Litterbox videos on his site, as well as other funny flash animations.  Really a talented (and nice) guy.  Definitely worth a look and a laugh, and a donation to Mat.  Here's a link to Mat's MySpace site as well.  More Litterbox Videos Please!  Rock on, Mat!

my dark angel protects me from all that goes bump in the night by Joe Scarano

Gimme Shelter - An Art Site Helping the Homeless

I ran across this site a while back and spent many hours marveling at the art and artists who display their work, like the piece at right by Joe Scarano, all done on cardboard boxes in a variety of artistic media.

Here's the gist, from the "About" page of the Gimme Shelter site itself:

My family and I visited the beautiful city of Toronto this winter. Like many trips before, we were absolutely amazed at the development of more and more billion-dollar condo projects. Each one promised more luxury than the next.

Starting in the sky and working down towards the foundation of Donald Trump's newest tower, my amazement turned to dismay when I saw a homeless woman (she could've been my age for God's sake) warming herself on the subway grate directly in front of the picture of this soon-to-be luxury high-rise.

When I got home, I quickly became interested in figuring out how these people have fallen through the cracks. Yeah, sure, there's the obvious connotation that these people have done something to deserve to be where they are. But how do they begin to get out? Do they get out?

I came across a show "This Side Up" which is the brainchild of Steve Tenebrini, Jeremy Boyd and Mike Maher. I thought, "Hey what a great concept - having "street" artists (I can't come up with a better classification) help out people living on the street." I wanted the show to come here to Buffalo, and then, to Toronto. And then, who knows where.

I put out some generic "feelers" to see who might be interested - and to my amazement, this entire group of artists all emailed me back almost begging to help. I'm still hoping to "piggyback" on the original show - so for the time being, we're "Part II".

The concept is simple - transform a piece of cardboard no larger than twelve inches on any side into a piece of art. The cardboard is a fitting medium for the cause since it is currently the primary source of warmth and shelter for our world's homeless. We're looking to change that.

If you're able and willing, we're looking for artists to contribute and for galleries (throughout the US, UK, Canada and Europe) who are willing to donate gallery space for a week. We're trying to find a publisher to print a catalog of the works for sale at the shows and at the end of the "tour" the works will be auctioned via eBay. All proceeds from the shows, the books, and the auction will be distributed to non-denominational charities in each city visited.

Many thanks go out to everyone who has volunteered thus far. Special thanks go to Adam Neate, Bryan Odiamar (Peabe), Daniel Goffin (idle) and Chris Zachary for getting the site up and going.

Spread the word. Cardboard is for boxes.

- Greg

Looks like the last entries on the site were a while back, but I think the cardboard art pieces are for sale, and there are hundreds of links to the artists who contributed.  Like Pbase, this is a site you can get lost on.  The National Coalition for the Homeless is the primary beneficiary of all funds received.  Good works = good works.  Go. Visit. Buy. Help.

Click to Enlarge

Peeplz Presents:

Sceneies- Peeplz We've Scene

A Humorous Collection of Visual Art about America's Subcultures

Saturday, December 15

at The Space on Tate Street