Jimmy Lee Sudduth, born Caines Ridge, AL 1910-died Fayette, AL 2007 Search this
Medium:
clay and syrup on plywood
Dimensions:
24 × 24 in. (61.0 × 61.0 cm)
Type:
Painting-Mixed Media
Folk Art
Date:
ca. 1995
Luce Center Label:
Jimmy Lee Sudduth painted with mud and natural dyes. Using a substance he called “sweet mud” (local soils mixed with sugar or Coca-Cola), Sudduth would block out the shapes of the painting. He would then rub plants and berries onto the surface of the mud to add color. He painted subjects he saw around him in his Fayette, Alabama, home. Like many of Sudduth’s paintings, this chicken floats in an ambiguous space. Her head is tipped back and her mouth is open, ready to cluck. Sudduth used his fingers as brushes, and the red lines of the bird’s neck and tail reveal traces of the artist’s fingers.