The Rooster in Marvin Finn's Work
by Albertus Gorman
The work of Marvin Finn has been well-known in Louisville for over twenty years. During that time, people have enjoyed the wide range of objects he has produced. Best known are his painted wood sculptures of animals and machines. Many people are drawn to his work for its humor, the color application and the wide variety of forms his creatures assume. What few people realize is that Marvin Finn’s work is linked to a larger tradition of folk art, which reaches back to Africa.
Finn once shared a remarkable story of his early days in rural Clio, Alabama that may provide a reason the chicken form is so important to him. Once, Finn’s brother was bitten by a snake while the two young men were walking in the woods. Quickly returning to their home, they sought out and caught a black chicken. The bird was killed and then pressed to the snake bite wound. Soon, his brother was well again.
In her essay, “Black American Folk Art, Origins and Early Manifestations,” Professor Regina Perry notes that chickens and snakes are important to the folk remedies and religions of West Africa. Through slavery, these customs and practices were roughly transplanted to the West Indies and then to the Gulf Coast of the United States. Interestingly, Finn has said that he has made only one snake sculpture. The night he made it, he dreamt the snake became alive. This startled him so much that he sold the piece to the first person who wanted it. Perhaps the healing power the chicken holds over the snake is one of the reasons Finn uses the rooster image so frequently.
In her essay, Professor Perry also mentions that wood sculptures and the use of mixed media are characteristics of the Yoruba peoples of West Africa. A typical Finn rooster is made of scrap wood and then specially painted. Each feather of the bird’s body is rendered as a single dash mark of the paintbrush. The visual effect is much like beadwork, which is also an important West African link. Finn also adds other materials to his work. It is not uncommon to find a crowing rooster with a small nail representing the bird’s tongue. The use of nails, tacks and shells are integral to West African sculpture traditions.
One last note concerning the rooster: Professor Perry has observed that when chicken forms are used by the Yoruba, they tend to be realistically sculpted. This seems true of Finn’s work, as well. Of all the animals in the Finn menagerie, the rooster form is the most naturalistic. Typically, Finn exercises his imagination by changing the usual form of his model, sometimes obscuring his original point of reference. This rarely happens with his roosters.
Marvin Finn is truly a living treasure of Louisville. It is my hope that visitors to the exhibition will be further encouraged to look deeper into the sources of his work. What seems most important to Finn is the joy he receives in making his art and the positive effect it produces in people who share his joy of creation.