AMOS FERGUSON
link: http://www.cawmagazine.com/articles/laurie-carmody/index.php
October 19, 2009
Dear friends and lovers of Mr. Amos Ferguson,
It is with great sorrow that I report to you the passing of Amos Ferguson. This wonderful painter of joy died peacefully Monday, October 19, 2009, in Nassau at his family home. Congratulations to all of you who own and have admired and enjoyed his work over the years.
I was privileged to visit with Amos many times during my 30 year career, the last time having been just last week with my daughter Robin. I looked straight into his beautiful green eyes and told him how much I loved and appreciated his paintings. He perked up from a sleepy daze, gave me a big smile, locked eyes with me and said:
"So you like my artwork?"
That made my day !
Amos was never one to mince words. He would always expound on how God gave him the talent to paint, and that he painted only through God. God and His Creation was Amos' sole inspiration. Amos could detect sincerity and its opposite in a person, and though he was a simple and humble man, he was as brilliant and sharp as they come.
I will dearly miss those sparkly, piercing eyes and that gentle smile, the joyful face and the baseball cap.
Amos, you were and always will be an INSPIRATION !
The Folk Art World will surely miss Mr Amos Ferguson.
I enclose photos of our newly acquired Amos Fergsuons that will now be in our Galerie Bonheur collection .
There is a movie called: Artists of the Bahamas, featuring a live interview with Amos and other artists. His home and studio will hopefully soon be moved to the grounds of the National Art Museum in Nassau.
I am also sending a link to the articles written about Amos on the day of his death.Laurie Carmody Ahner
Amos Ferguson (born c.1920 - 2009) was a house painter by profession who began painting when he was a boy. He received a vision from God in a dream; God told him to paint the beauty of His world, to celebrate the Bible and nature, and to show off his native Bahamas. Amos followed God's commands and had been painting prolifically for many years. Amos Ferguson claimed to, “Paint by Faith, Not by Sight.” He did not paint what he saw, but what he dreamed. Amos's subjects include Biblical scenes, nature motifs, and scenes of everyday Bahamian life, including the festival Junkanoo.
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His works are bold and bright, comprised of colorful shapes and patterns, making them charming, fun, and uplifting. Amos's use of color and imagery speaks of his lush tropical surroundings in the Bahamas. Ferguson used lush enamel house paint on cardboard, creating a beautiful shiny and smooth paint skin in his artwork.
Amos had become a well-known artist in his own country as well as others, and there is a museum in Nassau dedicated to his works. His work was discovered by the New York Art world in 1983 and has since toured the United States and several other countries.
Text by: Laurie Carmody Ahner of Galerie Bonheur