several Purvis Young works at the Main Street Gallery in Clayton, GA, from a visit made in 2014
At the Washington Post Magazine: Who Should Get the Artwork of Purvis Young?
Lawyers, collectors, ‘voodoo stuff with a cut chicken head’: The extraordinary tale of a beloved painter — and the people who wanted his art.
When he died in 2010, he named Lovest and 12 of her daughters and grandchildren as the main beneficiaries of his will. He left hardly any cash, but he did leave 1,884 artworks. Lovest assumed a sale would eventually be arranged and her family given its due. So she was surprised in 2018 to learn that a judge had let lawyers take all of the art to satisfy a half-million dollars in bills racked up on Young’s behalf. Her family hadn’t gotten a cent — or a single painting.
and
A Cuban Santeria priest named Silo Crespo acted as Young’s manager. According to Moos, Crespo told her that Young deserved a $30,000 or $60,000 base salary, plus commissions. When Moos balked — Young’s pieces sold for a few hundred or few thousand dollars, which she shared with the artist in an industry standard 50-50 split — Crespo put Santeria curses on her family. She hired a priestess to remove them: “I had to have the gallery cleaned. I had to do all this voodoo stuff with a cut chicken head.”
The Guardian with ‘The Michelangelo of kitsch’: the restoration of outsider architect Bruce Goff who was the architect of two designs in Mississippi: the WC Gryder house in Ocean Springs and the Emil and Charlotte Gutman house in Gulfport (since, destroyed by fire).
Think about the menu at Mobile’s SOCU, particularly the desserts:
Hennessey Peach Cobbler
Church Lady Banana Pudding
Yesssss.
Via ArtNews: Outsider Art Fair Will Spotlight Children’s Artworks from the 1930s at Upcoming New York Edition
from a visit to Dooky Chase
Lolis Eric Elie writes Leah Chase’s enduring legacy and independent spirit remembered on this Twelfth Night for the LA Times:
It’s easy to let legends slip away and become just that — an accumulation of stories that paint a two-dimensional portrait of a person who, like all people, was more complicated. But to fully appreciate Chase’s legacy, let alone learn from it, we need to keep in mind that her independent spirit was the bedrock of who she was.
The ‘Modern Southern’ meal at the James Beard House on Jan 24 by Jim Shirley of Gulf Coast restaurants Great Southern Café, The Bay, Farm & Fire Southern Pizzeria, North Beach Tortilla Co., The Meltdown On 30A, and Ji Shi Kitchen, Seaside, FL will include, just in part:
Black-Eyed Pea Hummus with Smoked Choctawhatchee Bay Mullet Dip with Chicken Skin
Heritage Pig Cheeks-in-a-Blanket
Smoked and Fried Apalachicola Oyster with Chicken Fat Bread and Collard Green Aïoli
Blood Orange Pie with Cornbread Pudding
A short Various this week. I guess we’re all just starting to get back in to things for the new year. BTW, my older son broke his arm in two places this week during PE, so would deeply appreciate some sweet thoughts going his way. Lots of love! xoxo!