WEBVTT

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GUEST: I bought it in
Washington, D.C., in 1985.

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There was a gallery near where I
lived, and I just, I loved it.

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I couldn't afford it with the
money that I had in the bank.

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I was a cook.

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And, um, so I talk to her about
it and she says, "Well, I can
sell it to you on installment."

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So I was, like, "Okay."

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APPRAISER: And, and
how much was it?

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GUEST: I paid $1,100 for it.

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APPRAISER: In 1985, which
was a lot of money.

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GUEST: A lot of money.

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APPRAISER: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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GUEST: For me.

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The thing is, he also did the
cover of Talking Heads album
called "Little Creatures."

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And I paid my first payment, and
then the next week, that album
came out.

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And I was, like...

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APPRAISER: And, and who are
we talking about here?

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GUEST: Howard Finster.

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APPRAISER: Howard Finster, okay.

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GUEST: That's right.

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APPRAISER: Finster was
a, a visionary artist.

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Uh, and he was out there.

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And you can look at
this and say, "Wow!"

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GUEST: Yeah.

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APPRAISER: He was born in 1916.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: And, uh, he
was one of 13 children.

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And he, he declared that he had
his first vision when he was
three years old.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: His sister, who was
deceased, visited him in a dream
and said, "You, Howard, you

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will be a man of visions."

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He became an
evangelical preacher.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: But he was
all along making art.

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He finally moved to near
Summerville, Georgia...

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER:...and started
the Paradise Garden.

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And the Paradise Garden
still exists today.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: Uh, that
you can go see.

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It's a, it's a, full of oddball
buildings that incorporate
Finster's art.

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R.E.M. and the Talking Heads
discovered him and there was an
article about him in "Atlanta"

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magazine.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: And people started
picking up on this weird, quirky
guy.

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So let's sort of
delve into this.

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GUEST: (laughing) Okay.

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APPRAISER: And the first thing,
it's made out of boards.

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GUEST: Oh, yeah.

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APPRAISER: There's some mirror.

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This is a piece of plexiglass.

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GUEST: Right.

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APPRAISER: And he's
painted everywhere.

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He's covered every...

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GUEST: Everywhere.

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APPRAISER: ...complete surface,
which is typical of the work
that he did.

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Lots of verbiage,
lots of action.

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And then you sort of delve into
this, and you say, "Okay, here's
the Tree of Life,"

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and there are clouds in
ascending from the Tree of Life.

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GUEST: Happy clouds.

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APPRAISER: Happy clouds.

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And then, of course, scattered
throughout are keys to Finster's
work.

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GUEST: So instead of just
writing the number 3,524, he
wrote the "3,000 and 524 works
of

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art."

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APPRAISER: Yeah, and, and of
course, Finster had received
another vision that he was to

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make 5,000 works of art.

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And that's why he
started numbering them.

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And he continued to work
until he died in 2001.

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GUEST: Yeah.

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APPRAISER: So there, there...

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No one knows absolutely how
many works of art Finster did.

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But it's probably in excess of
45,000 or 50,000 works of art.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: Which brings us
around to value of this
remarkable thing.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER: What do you
think it's worth today?

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GUEST: Not that long ago, a
gallery owner in Atlanta told me
it's worth maybe $3,000

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to $5,000 at auction.

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APPRAISER: Yeah.

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Okay.

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GUEST: That's all I knew then.

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APPRAISER: I, I, I would
differ a little bit.

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Most of his work, his
small-dimensional work, is
either measured in the few
hundreds...

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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APPRAISER:...to $1,500, $2,000.

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In the right outsider art
auction, I think this would
probably bring between $15,000

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and $25,000.

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GUEST: Really?!

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That's great!

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APPRAISER: Absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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GUEST: Great.

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Good for Howard.

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I knew it was very
special when I saw it.