It’s Art. It’s Weird. It’s Entertaining. It’s Educational
A dazzling array of eye-popping, curious and mind-blowing examples of “found” amateur art, culled from thrift stores, swap meets, yard sales, flea markets and even dumpsters!
The paintings range in subject from portraits to pets, religion to fantasy, landscape to abstract and an awful lot of “what on earth were they thinking?” By no means are all the paintings “bad”, although some do exhibit a certain unprofessional charm. Each artwork does, however, demonstrate a certain quality that speaks to us. Although they don’t necessarily speak to everybody in the same way.
All the pieces we display are original works of art and have not been altered in any way. Our only contribution is in giving the pieces an appropriate (and occasionally inappropriate) title and a wall to hang upon.
We currently hold two annual shows where we exhibit all our latest discoveries. The first show of the year is in Bisbee, AZ in early spring, the second in Tucson, AZ in the Fall. Apart from the ever-evolving Permanent Collection, every piece of art at the show is for sale.
We have also held exhibitions in Joshua Tree, CA and the ghost town of Lobo, TX
Our next show can be found on the Events page.
In selecting paintings for the web site we’ve tried to include something to please all tastes, and possibly upset some tastes too.
To paraphrase the noted Art Collector, Abraham Lincoln: “Paintings of the people, by the people, for the people.”
The Curators
Mark Bloom is originally from London. He is an illustrator, designer, mosaic artist and collector of other peoples’ discarded artworks. He has been collecting the strange, the weird, the unconventional and the offbeat for over 20 years.
In his spare time he enjoys scouring local swap meets and thrift stores, collecting vintage vinyl records, designing things and eating sushi.
Steve Purdy has lived in Tucson for more than 25 years and been involved in the music business in one form or another for more than forty years.
He Is the founder and owner of LYSERGIC SOUND DISTRIBUTORS aka L.S.D. Records, a Tucson-based vinyl-only record label that’s been in business for more than fifteen years and specializes in reissuing rare psychedelic, garage, unknown, obscure and/or unreleased music from the 1960’s and early 1970’s.
Steve has been a collector of outsider art for about ten years and started when he found a classic painting, that has become known as “The Baby” in a thrift store in Santa Fe, N.M. in 2004.
Steve had the idea for and was the co-creator of the first “Tales From The Trash” which took place in Tucson in September, 2012.
Some random recent finds
