A Look at Howard Finster’s Collaboration with R.E.M.
Finster with R.E.M.
The latter entered the national conversation yesterday as the indie rock supergroup, R.E.M., disbanded after 31 years. Finster was an inspiration to the band, especially to lead singer Michael Stipe.
The two collaborated on the album cover for R.E.M.’s Reckoning; R.E.M. filmed the video for their iconic song, “Radio Free Europe,” in Paradise Garden, the outdoor aspect of the Howard Finster Vision House in Summerville, Georgia.
‘Radio Free Europe’ by R.E.M. (1981)
As the article below from Phaidon Press points out, Finster achieved perhaps his greatest popular success in his collaborations with bands like R.E.M. and Talking Heads:
‘The Angel Turns the Storm’ (l) as featured in Phaidon’s ‘The American Art Book’ by the artist and Baptist preacher Howard Finster, who also painted the artwork for the 1984 R.E.M. album, ‘Reckoning’ (r) REM announced their split yesterday. Among many things we can thank them for in their rather successful 31-year career was introducing us to the wonderful work of outsider artist Howard Finster. REM singer Michael Stipe befriended Finster, who’s featured in Phaidon’s American Art Book, while an art student in Georgia in 1981. Two years later they collaborated on the cover for REM’s second album, Reckoning and Finster appeared (briefly) in the video to the band’s early song, Radio Free Europe. Through his connections with REM, and later Talking Heads, the backwoods Baptist preacher, whose paintings were inspired by the gospel, visitations from the dead and his visions of extra-terrestrial life (which he’d had since the age of four), became responsible for introducing millions of people to the concept of outsider art. He was often called a naïve or folk artist but one of his early paintings best summed up his own opinion of himself. “I am Howard Finster, a stranger from another world. My father and mother my sisters and brother my wife my children my grandchildren have never really figured me out. When my work is finished I will go back to other worlds.” |
Finster and R.E.M. have left quite a legacy for us to appreciate, one that we’re excited to be a part of here in Long Grove. See you soon!