Straight Up | American Outsider Art | No Reserves

Art has the unfortunate tendency of becoming exclusive, blocking those who run against established standards. It is then a creative triumph when counterculture receives attention and respect. Straight Up | American Outsider Art | No Reserves is offered by Material Culture, and gives outsiders that opportunity for appreciation. Starting bids extend from $20 to $500, bringing these works into reach for a wide range of collectors. The artists featured in this auction were mostly self-taught and all unconventional. Jimmy Lee Sudduth’s “Double-sided Painting” was painted with his fingers, for example, and David Butler’s tin cutouts were displayed in his front yard. By examining the accepted rules and then breaking them, these artists deliver entirely raw, unrestrained material.

Folk paintings from Clementine Hunter and Bessie Harvey speak to the experience of low-income African Americans, without regard to official culture. Corrugated metal paintings from Mary Tillman Smith mirror Purvis Young’s mixed media projects on found materials. This auction also highlights the imaginative work of Jon Serl, Sybil Gibson, and Mose Tolliver. No individual artist can represent them all, but Howard Finster’s “Coke Bottle” shows the key foundation of this auction: art that is unafraid to turn everything we know upside-down. Preview all works and register to bid online on Bidsquare.