| John Mitty Monday, December 17, 2012 |
Hirschl & Adler Modern Gallery of New York City was the first respected gallery to recognize the inherent value of the unique artistic vision and the work of a former slave living on the Montgomery, Alabama streets during the 70s; the work by Bill Traylor is now considered to be masterpieces of outsider art that now command up to a hundred thousand dollars.
H&A has made another startling discovery: the unique vision of someone who spent many decades in a mental institution, who up until recently was known as “Electric Pencil.” This recently-discovered work by Outsider artist James Edward Deeds, Jr. (1908-1987) will be on exhibit at New York’s Hirschl & Adler Modern Gallery from January 10, 2013 to February 9, 2013.
The exhibition “Electric Pencil” consists of 30 drawings created over 45 years when Mr. Deeds was a mental patient in State Hospital No. 3 in Nevada, Missouri.
His hand-bound album of 140 double-sided drawings, numbered in the upper corner was given to his family in 1970 when he was discharged from the institution. Accidentally discarded by movers when the family was moving, the book, unbeknownst to the family, was rescued from a trash heap by a boy who kept it for 40 years. The artist’s identity was completely unknown except for one obvious clue – the paper he drew on was the hospital’s stationary.
After extensive forensic research by New York based sculptor and art dealer Harris Diament, a private investigator, and Springfield News-Leader reporter Juliana Goodwin, the identity of the person who created a hand bound book of 283 drawings was discovered.
Hirschl and Adler Modern curator Tom Parker believes this collection of work done in crayon and colored pencils by Mr. Deeds is a perfect example of outsider art because “outsider artists use the tools they have at hand to make complex, beautiful imagery.”
In an interview with the Riverfront News of St. Louis, Mr. Parker compares Edward Deeds to other outsider artists. “Artists that are the purest example of art brut (the original French term for outsider art) …are truly intuitive…..” he explained.
In March 2013, a much larger selection of Mr. Deeds’s work- 60 to 80 drawings- will debut at the Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland, the world’s premiere showcase for outsider art.
Deeds’ life story, images, an 18 minute documentary can be found at: http://www.electricpencildrawings.com/index.html , as well as the St. Louis Riverfront Times article. http://www.riverfronttimes.com/content/printVersion/1692366/
The story of Mr. Deeds and his personal remembrances and reflections of the people he knew, and what he saw from his window is a remarkable story is one that I’d be pleased to discuss with you at greater length.
Electric Pencil is on view from January 10 to February 9, 2013, and is free and open to the public from Tuesday through Friday from 9:30 am to 5 pm, on Saturdays from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, and by appointment on Mondays. Hirschl & Adler Modern gallery is located at 730 5th Avenue (@ 57 St), 4 floor, NYC, 10019, (212) 535-8810, http://www.hirschlandadler.com/.
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