my obsessions
the may twenty-second b-b-bonus this week in outsider art *paid* newsletter
FIND OF THE WEEK
A lot of people have asked me (no one has ever asked me) what does it take to make something “The Find of The Week”? I’m not entirely sure, thanks for asking though! (no one was asking).
One thing I do know, if a piece of art makes you stop in your tracks, mumble to yourself “holy shit” and then you shove your phone into the nearest high school student in your classroom to show them, I think that qualifies!
This mask is from Mexico, the third quarter of the 20th century and is made of wool, leather, and horns. It comes from the great folks at Cavin-Morris Gallery, Randall Morris and Shari Cavin. I do not believe this work is for sale, and it is one of the many great masks they share directly on the Instagram channel @tribalartforanewgeneration.
What I love about Cavin-Morris is that they have an incredible eye for the most interesting and mesmerizing art from around the world. Whether these masks, ceramics from Japan or rugs from Iran (viva CC!), they have been collecting for over 40 years and they never disapoint. They’re always also super nice and kind to me every time I see them!
At the time of this writing, this mask is not for sale.
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B-B-BONUS
» Asafo Flags «
Last week’s b-b-bonus newsletter featured Puritan funerary art, or in layman’s terms — extremely rad gravestones from 18th century New England. I never knew I needed winged death heads on gravestones in my life, but here we are! That led me to think about a handful of things, that if you would have told 15-year-old me twenty years ago that one day you’d be obsessed with the following, I would have thought you were nuts.
And Asafo Flags. Look, the list could go on forever. But as of late, any time I see any and all of that list above. I continue to be blown away.
Especially when I see a stellar Asafo Flags. I can’t remember the first time I stumbled upon Asafo flags, but I remember I immediately wanted to know everything about them. I bought a great book and immediately hijacked my graphic design class so I could share with them my excitement as we created flags in Illustrator for the next two weeks.