Have you ever wondered what a curator’s personal art collection might look like? Well, now is your chance to get a glimpse into the collection belonging to Ogden Museum Curator of Photography, Richard McCabe.
This blog post is the first in a special series looking at our staff’s personal collections. We hope you enjoy it!
Howard Finster, Weight of the World, 1993
This is the first work of art I ever bought. It was 1994 and I was living in Seattle (The Grunge Years). I think I paid a hundred dollars for it at the Vox Populi gallery in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
I was 2,000 miles away from the South and I missed it terribly. Finster reminded me of home. He was born in Alabama, but was mostly known for his Folk environment (Paradise Gardens) in Summerville, Georgia.
Howard Finster, Weight of the World, 1993
A few years before, I had visited Paradise Gardens and was blown away. I became aware of Finster’s art from some of my favorite rock ‘n roll bands. He did album cover art for REM and the Talking Heads. The figure in Weight of the World, the Atlas man, was also featured on the Talking Heads’ “Little Creatures” album cover.
Weight of the World is my favorite work in my collection because it was this piece that started my passion for collecting art. Also, my love and respect for Howard Finster’s work and folk/vernacular art in general. I love the honesty and authenticity of the so called “outsider artists.”
-Richard McCabe, Curator of Photography