SCENE/ART: Outsider Art Auction (online 11/22)

My friend Jim once told me about a bear of a man living in the mountains of Tennessee who holds public auctions of outsider art. When pressed to regale me with one of his tall tales though, Jim merely points out that “Kimball Sterling is a big, big man with big, big thoughts and even bigger shoes. I saw him clog dance once…you do NOT want to be in the way.”

Sterling has gathered together all of the Southern Outsider “bigwigs” plus some of the “Wildest” art in one location that you will ever find for the auction he is holding in person and online tomorrow (11/22) @ 11AM (EST). The lot includes works by Mose Tolliver, Howard Finster, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, R.A. Miller, Purvis Young, Charlie Lucas, and many others, as well as a very large collection of Southern unknown vintage folk art boxes, lamps, rugs, quilts and more.

Kimball Sterling is considered one of the top three cane auctioneers in the world. Sterling, Inc. came up in the fields of antique cars, jukeboxes and memorabilia, and is now considered the premier auction house in America for Outsider, Folk and Appalachian art.


Unrelated but incidentally, the keepers of Finster’s flame held a grand opening of the Paradise Gardens Gallery on November 8 and are currently looking for volunteers and donations to help save World’s Folk Art Chapel.

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