Creation to Revelation Collection of 60 religious works by folk and outsider artists make for interesting viewing at Hickory Museum of Art

HICKORY ­-- Winged angels, pitchfork-wielding devils, Jesus, Adam and Eve and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are among the biblical figures who appear repeatedly in "Silent Preachers and Bringers of Light," a reverent but lively exhibition at the Hickory Museum of Art.The show consists of about 60 "Gospel Works from the Huffman Collection of Contemporary Folk & Outsider Art," as it's subtitled.

It is the final installment of a three-exhibit series, titled "Homegrown & Handmade," showcasing works from the substantial collection that Hickory native Allen Huffman and his wife, Barry, have built over the last 30 years. Allen is a retired obstetrician-gynecologist, and Sanford native Barry is a self-taught painter and scholar of art from the South, especially traditional pottery and works by self-taught artists.

Their collection is one of the best of its kind in the state, and in recent years they have donated a number of pieces to the Hickory Museum of Art. The "Homegrown & Handmade" shows have included works they own and works they've given to the museum, and each exhibition has emphasized a different aspect of their collection. This one highlights the religious subject matter treated by many of the artists. Its guest curator, David Steele, the curator of European art at the N.C. Museum of Art, discusses this art in the historical context of Western religious art in his essay for the accompanying catalog.

Steele contrasts the work in this show with that of contemporary, academically trained artists, few of whom treat religion in their art unless it's from an ironic or negatively critical perspective. This work, on the other hand, is overwhelmingly devout in its treatment of traditional Christian themes and subjects.

Among the show's several works inspired by the biblical book of Genesis is Rudolph Valentino Bostic's Creation of Adam and Eve. Two hovering angels witness a white-robed Yahweh creating the world's first two humans from the earth in this expressionistic painting on corrugated cardboard.

In a stylistically related vein is Myrtice West's She Took of the Fruit, which imaginatively depicts two key moments in the Garden of Eden combined into one scene. On the left, Eve sits on the ground and Adam stands behind her, and they're both naked as they reach out for pieces of fruit offered by another naked woman who emerges from the body of a large snake coiled around the Tree of Knowledge. On the right Adam and Eve are clad in animal skins as they're banished from Eden for their sin.

Also noteworthy are two sculptural renditions of Adam and Eve in the Garden -- Tim Lewis' highly stylized carving of the couple and the serpent coiled around the tree, all made from a single piece of stone; and Jim Havner's clay tableau in which Eve holds an apple as she sits on the ground alongside Adam and a peacefully reclining lion.

Other works inspired by the Old Testament include Albert Hodge's small clay sculpture of Jonah, peering fearfully out from the sharp-toothed mouth of the whale that has swallowed him, and Junior Lewis' tableau depicting the showdown between David and Goliath. In the latter piece, made of carved and painted wood, a barefoot David, armed only with a slingshot, stands among a group of helmeted, sword-wielding soldiers while Goliath, armed with a big axe, towers threateningly over them all.

Paying homage to Old Testament prophets are paintings by Kessiah Meroney and the previously mentioned Myrtice West. In Meroney's intriguingly enigmatic Ascension/Elijah, the prophet Elijah is portrayed as an emaciated, white-bearded man on whose hand is balanced a glittering spiral form that suggests the double-helix structure of DNA. West's Visions of Ezekiel is an ambitiously conceived scene in which the prophet witnesses a celestial vision of angels and hybrid beings surrounding a white-robed, golden-crowned Yahweh seated on a central throne under a rainbow archway.

The previously mentioned Jim Havner also created one of the exhibition's most elaborate works inspired by the New Testament, a group of 22 clay figurines and wood components that make up a Nativity tableau centering on the infant Jesus lying in a manger.

On roughly the same miniature scale is Fred Webster's carved and painted wood tableau Peter Denying Christ, another highlight among the show's New Testament-inspired works, depicting a dramatic scene late in Jesus' life.

Christ's crucifixion is depicted in roughly stylized paintings by Anderson Johnson and Mose Tolliver, and similarly rough-hewn stone carvings by Charles Archer and Raymond Coins -- all highlights of the show. But the show's most visually riveting works inspired by either testament are three apocalyptic visionary paintings by McKendree Robbins Long, an anomaly among this show's artists. Unlike the other artists represented in this show and the larger Huffman collection, Statesville native Long was academically trained in art, but he was also a fire-and-brimstone preacher and a religious visionary. His elaborate depictions of scenes from St. John's Revelation appear to reflect the influences of superhero comic books and popular movies heavy on special effects.

Other highlights of the exhibition include works by Leroy Almon, Eddie Arning, Herman Bridgers, Ronald Cooper, Howard Finster, David Garner, James Harold Jennings and Joe McFall.

■ "Silent Preachers and Bringers of Light: Gospel Works from the Huffman Collection of Contemporary Folk & Outsider Art" is on view through Feb. 17 at the Hickory Museum of Art, 243 Third Ave. N.E., Hickory. For more information, call 828-327-8576.