HARRY UNDERWOOD (American, b. 1969)
is a self-taught artist living in Nashville Tennessee. He was born in Miami and raised in the rural "Redlands" farming area near the city of Homestead, Florida. Uprooted by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, he moved to New Orleans and then Austin before eventually settling in Nashville. Harry worked in the construction industry and painted in his free time, selling his art at flea markets on weekends, until a gallery owner discovered him. She took his paintings to the Outsider Art Fair in New York where they were well received, and in 2015, he was able to quit his day job and sustain himself as a full-time working artist, exhibiting at galleries in the US, UK and Europe.
A Sight Seen Puncturing The Cycle Of Repetitive Concerns
This year marks 20 since I began painting publicly. I am 51. The early portion of my art focused on images with words I thought gave relief from the life I had at the time. I’ve considered calling those images “Leisure paintings” but haven’t found opportunities to discuss them as such or separately from the work I do today. Today’s work and the work from the past eight years or so has become more philosophical. Recently I’ve weighed thoughts about certitude and uncertainty. I once did a picture that I titled “The Uncertainty Is Over”. That was an attempt at levity in 2016 when all seemed uncertain. Today I have a picture that imagines certitude to be a phenomenon hidden behind a waterfall. My paintings on wood panels began primitively in 2001 and the function is still the same today. I use these pictures as a device to do my thinking and suspend the monotony that is common in life. I paint what I need to see and say. Uncertainty isn’t a new problem, it’s always been present. It appears to me that certitude is a greater threat to people because it is so often false. Confidence is not a prerequisite to truth.
- Harry Underwood, 2021
The spectacular 3 SOUTHERN ARTISTS (through July 31) features new work by the well-known Ab the Flagman, little-known panorama-format paintings by the late Cabbagetown artist Panorama Ray (none of his celebrated panorama photos are here) and fascinating text-filled paintings by Harry Underwood. Underwood, a Tennessee outsider artist, is devoted to the philosophical question of how we achieve certainty. One painting describes it as “a phenomenon soaked in the diary of a waterfall.”
- Jerry Cullum ArtsATL
This year marks 20 since I began painting publicly. I am 51. The early portion of my art focused on images with words I thought gave relief from the life I had at the time. I’ve considered calling those images “Leisure paintings” but haven’t found opportunities to discuss them as such or separately from the work I do today. Today’s work and the work from the past eight years or so has become more philosophical. Recently I’ve weighed thoughts about certitude and uncertainty. I once did a picture that I titled “The Uncertainty Is Over”. That was an attempt at levity in 2016 when all seemed uncertain. Today I have a picture that imagines certitude to be a phenomenon hidden behind a waterfall. My paintings on wood panels began primitively in 2001 and the function is still the same today. I use these pictures as a device to do my thinking and suspend the monotony that is common in life. I paint what I need to see and say. Uncertainty isn’t a new problem, it’s always been present. It appears to me that certitude is a greater threat to people because it is so often false. Confidence is not a prerequisite to truth.
- Harry Underwood, 2021
The spectacular 3 SOUTHERN ARTISTS (through July 31) features new work by the well-known Ab the Flagman, little-known panorama-format paintings by the late Cabbagetown artist Panorama Ray (none of his celebrated panorama photos are here) and fascinating text-filled paintings by Harry Underwood. Underwood, a Tennessee outsider artist, is devoted to the philosophical question of how we achieve certainty. One painting describes it as “a phenomenon soaked in the diary of a waterfall.”
- Jerry Cullum ArtsATL
selected solo exhibitions:
2019: Red-Letter Days, Different Trains Gallery, Decatur GA
2017: Halcyon Bicycle Shop, Nashville TN
2016: Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2016: Yard Dog, Austin TX
2016: Belcourt Theater, Nashville TN
2015: Julia Martin Gallery, Nashville TN
2014: Infinity Cat Records, Nashville TN
2014: Belcourt Theater, Nashville TN
2013: The Principle of Refreshment, Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2013: Life’s Big Sequel, Skypac Performing Arts Center, Bowling Green KY
2012: The Power of Reflection, The Arts Company, Nashville TN
2011: The Brightest of the Seasons, Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2011: Reveries and Reflections, Just Folk, Summerland CA
2010: An Atmosphere For Living, Estel Gallery, Nashville TN
2009: The Very Tremendously, Boundless and Romantic, Perpetual History of Light, Estel Gallery, Nashville TN
2009: The Very Tremendously, Boundless and Romantic, Perpetual History of Light, Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2008: The Logic of Wishful Thinking, Estel Gallery, Nashville TH
2008: A Pictorial History of Wishful Thinking, Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2008: Nashville International Airport
2007: A Pictorial History of Wishful Thinking, Estel Gallery, Nashville TN
selected group exhibitions:
2022: Outdoor Worship, one man show, The WADDI, Atlanta, Sep 10 - Oct 29
2021: 3 Southern Artists featuring Harry Underwood + Ab the Flagman & Panorama Ray, The WADDI, Atlanta, June 12 - July 31
2008-2023: Outsider Art Fair, New York City
2015-16: Halle Saint Pierre Museum, Paris
2015: Blue Spiral Gallery, Asheville NC
2010: Metro Arts Commission, Nashville TN
2009: J. P. Ritsch-Fisch Gallery, Strasbourg, France
2009, Art Chicago, Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2009: Rosemarie Koczy/ J. P. Ritsch-Fisch Gallery- Strasbourg, France
2009: Art Paris, J. P. Ritsch-Fisch Gallery, Strasbourg, France
2008: Ruby Green, Nashville TN
2007, 2011: Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art, Chicago IL
2007: Fresh Faces, Judy Saslow Gallery, Chicago IL
2005: Plowhaus Artist Cooperative, Nashville TN
2019: Red-Letter Days, Different Trains Gallery, Decatur GA
2017: Halcyon Bicycle Shop, Nashville TN
2016: Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2016: Yard Dog, Austin TX
2016: Belcourt Theater, Nashville TN
2015: Julia Martin Gallery, Nashville TN
2014: Infinity Cat Records, Nashville TN
2014: Belcourt Theater, Nashville TN
2013: The Principle of Refreshment, Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2013: Life’s Big Sequel, Skypac Performing Arts Center, Bowling Green KY
2012: The Power of Reflection, The Arts Company, Nashville TN
2011: The Brightest of the Seasons, Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2011: Reveries and Reflections, Just Folk, Summerland CA
2010: An Atmosphere For Living, Estel Gallery, Nashville TN
2009: The Very Tremendously, Boundless and Romantic, Perpetual History of Light, Estel Gallery, Nashville TN
2009: The Very Tremendously, Boundless and Romantic, Perpetual History of Light, Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2008: The Logic of Wishful Thinking, Estel Gallery, Nashville TH
2008: A Pictorial History of Wishful Thinking, Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2008: Nashville International Airport
2007: A Pictorial History of Wishful Thinking, Estel Gallery, Nashville TN
selected group exhibitions:
2022: Outdoor Worship, one man show, The WADDI, Atlanta, Sep 10 - Oct 29
2021: 3 Southern Artists featuring Harry Underwood + Ab the Flagman & Panorama Ray, The WADDI, Atlanta, June 12 - July 31
2008-2023: Outsider Art Fair, New York City
2015-16: Halle Saint Pierre Museum, Paris
2015: Blue Spiral Gallery, Asheville NC
2010: Metro Arts Commission, Nashville TN
2009: J. P. Ritsch-Fisch Gallery, Strasbourg, France
2009, Art Chicago, Lindsay Gallery, Columbus OH
2009: Rosemarie Koczy/ J. P. Ritsch-Fisch Gallery- Strasbourg, France
2009: Art Paris, J. P. Ritsch-Fisch Gallery, Strasbourg, France
2008: Ruby Green, Nashville TN
2007, 2011: Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art, Chicago IL
2007: Fresh Faces, Judy Saslow Gallery, Chicago IL
2005: Plowhaus Artist Cooperative, Nashville TN
