elephant bird egg: works by the late john ignatius

John Ignatius Salemi (1952-2015) was born in Washington DC and spent his youth painting murals in Roman Catholic churches in Pittsburgh, PA. Salemi served in the US Navy for two years during the Vietnam War, where he developed heart problems and intense post-traumatic stress disorder. After returning from Vietnam, John became a conscientious objector and began hitchhiking his way North to Canada, eventually settling in Waterville, Maine around 1972. For the rest of his life, John would spend his days painting on the porch of his small apartment on Gray Street in Waterville’s South End.

As an outsider artist, Salemi produced hundreds of paintings and prints during the 35 years he spent in Waterville. Despite their eclectic subjects, his works betray an unmistakable and developed style, revealing a highly idiosyncratic religious world view, drawing inspiration from local Maine landscapes and wildlife as well as traditional Japanese and Hindu iconography.

In…