OSGS continues to stretch its wings and bring a wide variety of artwork to its walls.  The Rickie Report urges you not to miss the current exhibit of Jimmy Lee Sudduth’s work at this Northwood gallery.  Jimmy Lee’s paintings bring us back to a genre most would call Folk Art.  In fact, his work was prominent at the Smithsonian Institution’s Bicentennial Festival of American Folk Life.  His Alabama roots are intertwined with those of OSGS owners, Evelyn Ortiz-Smykla and Jonathon Ortiz Smykla.  His message is universal.  Paint, create, celebrate life!  Here are the details and a sneak peek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OSGS

Presents Paintings by

Jimmy Lee Sudduth

 

500 Northwood Road    W.Palm Beach, FL

 

 

TRR:

This Jimmy Lee Sudduth Exhibition is different from your previous ones.  Please tell our readers more about its significance.

OSGS:

We recently have had some conversations with a private art collector about a collaboration with OSGS.  The conversation went well enough that we’ve been offered three Jimmy Lee Sudduth paintings to exhibit here at OSGS. The name may not ring a bell (as there are many artists in the world) but he’s an artist that not only hits close to home for myself but also with the trending art market for ‘outsider art’, ‘folk art’, and ‘self-taught Southern artists’.  Jimmy Lee is no longer living as he passed away in 2007 (in his 90s). His connection with OSGS is that we have roots in Alabama and Jimmy Lee was born and raised in Fayette, Alabama which is where he spent his entire life.  Also, our exhibited pieces will not be for sale. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRR:

Art lovers will have an unexpected opportunity to see this historically significant artwork at OSGS.   Please share some of the highlights of Sudduth’s contributions to the art world

OSGS:

Jimmy Lee began collecting pigments from clay, earth, rocks and plants for use in his finger paintings. He used his fingers because “they never wore out.” His numerous works were typically executed on found surfaces such as plywood, doors and boards from demolished buildings. He experimented with mixing his pigments with various binders to make them adhere better, including sugar, soft drinks, instant coffee, and caulk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notable Exhibitions:

1968 – Stillman College (Tuscaloosa, AL) *first exhibition
1971 – Kentuck Festival of the Arts (Northport, AL)
1976 – Smithsonian Institution’s Bicentennial Festival of American Folk Life
*Jimmy Lee played harmonica along with exhibition
1980 – The Today Show & 60 Minutes feature
1995 – Alabama Art Award
1995 – New Orleans Museum of Art (Artist In Residence)
2005 – Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (Montgomery, AL)
Current Collections:
Smithsonian Institution
High Museum of Art
Corcoran Gallery
Birmingham Museum of Art
House of Blues

 

 

We will reference in writing some highlights and are providing a link to the Smithsonian’s website/collection of Jimmy Lee Sudduth’s work: http://www.americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=5874

 

 

TRR:

 Many people consider “recycling” and “up-cycling”  a recent phenomenon.  Clearly, this is not the case.

OSGS:

He was one of the early masters of southern self-taught art. Jimmy Lee painted with his finger which he called his brush. That ‘brush’ would never wear out and would die along with him. Although it is commonly believed that Sudduth’s early paintings were executed exclusively in mud and found pigments, such as motor oil or plant juices, in fact, his earliest known paintings contain large amounts of house paint. Anything he could find or get from his helpful neighbors right across the railroad tracks where he worked as a gardener to the Moore family. No one knew, but it was them who really supported Jimmy Lee. His next-door-neighbor, Jack Black, helped Jimmy Lee become the artist he is today through his love and commitment of Alabama art. As his fame grew, dealers advised Sudduth on ways to make his works more permanent and more colorful, and by the 1990s, no longer able to collect his own materials, he began using commercially-sold acrylic paints applied with sponge brushes onto wood panels prepared with a flat black ground.

 

 

 

 

 

TRR:

We understand there is some personal history with Jimmy Lee Sudduth.

OSGS:

Jimmy Lee’s roots and path are all too familiar with both Jonathon and Evelyn’s experiences over the course of 30+ years living in the state of Alabama. Meeting, studying and being a part of Alabama’s fine arts provided first hand insight into the Southern vernacular of life, art and design while engaging in direct relationships with those that were rooted in rural Alabama. The OSGS family was schooled, lived and worked in Northport, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Auburn, and Montgomery, Alabama for around 20 years.

 

 

Jonathon shares, “I was six years old when my Mom was in graduate school at the University of Alabama and she took me to meet Jimmy Lee Sudduth at his home in Fayette, Alabama. I do recall the visit well and remember the home, the dirt roads and his paintings. For me, at that age, it was an experience that was solidified because of the deeply rooted rural Alabama area where he lived and his enthusiasm about his work and our interest in his work.  We are very excited about this opportunity to share art that reflects places and experiences we hold near our hearts”.

 

**some information gathered from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Wikipedia.

 

 

For more information about this exhibit or other art being shown at OSGS, please contact Evelyn Ortiz Smykla & Jonathon Ortiz-Smykla at

OSGS Ortiz-Smykla|Gallery-Studio

p: 561-833-2223

e: OSGSart@hotmail.com

www.OSGSart.com

 

Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OSGSart

 

 

 

For coverage of your events, to place an advertisement, or speak to Rickie about appearing in The Rickie Report, contact The Rickie Report at:

Rickie Leiter, Publisher

The Rickie Report

P.O.Box 33423

Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420

Rickie@therickiereport.com

561-537-0291