Howard Finster, Stranger
from Another World

Man of Visions Now on This Earth

By Howard Finster, as told to Tom Patterson
Abbeville Press, $45

ISBN 0896599027

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Review by Will Motley

The Reverend Howard Finster has reached a celebrity status like that of no other contemporary artist. From the galleries of SoHO to Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show," from the Venice Biennale to the cover of a Talking Heads album, Howard Finster has brought "outsider art" to the forefront of the postmodern art scene. With the continued interest in eccentric self-taught artists in America, Abbeville Press has published Howard Finster, Stranger from Another World. This is Howard Finster in his words, expressing the vision that has consumed his life. In preparing this as-told-to autobiography, Tom Patterson collected over nine years of recorded conversation with the artist/preacher. He authentically records Finster's distinct speech rhythms, allowing the reader to enjoy his entertaining and poetic style of storytelling.

A visionary at the age of three, called to preach on the revival circuit at 15, the idiosyncratic Finster believes to have been delivered from a faraway planet by God to bring earthlings salvation through his art.

Armed with only a sixth-grade education and an indefatigable devotion to his calling, the extraterrestrial Baptist preacher has created thousands of paintings, sculptures, and constructions. Those not immediately purchased by his faithful followers find a place in Paradise Garden, Finster's home just outside of Pennville, Georgia. Paradise Garden, a labyrinth of paintings, sculpture, and architecture, is a pilgrimage site for thousands of academics, young artists, collectors, and the curious.

Amazing, entertaining, and, at times, enlightening, Finster is a man true to himself and his calling. Stranger from Another World reveals an artist desperately trying to mend a fragmented world. We look at Finster with a bewildered gaze but come away inspired.

Will Motley is an artist from Greensboro, North Carolina.

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