Medium/Discipline: Sculpture
Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland
Place of Death: Baltimore, Maryland
Maryland Affiliation: Born here, Active while in residence
Prominent Theme: Figurative; Abstract
Style/Period: Folk Art; Visionary Art
Gender: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Black/African-American
Biography: Gerald Hawkes, born in 1943, lived and worked in Baltimore, Maryland. He made matchstick sculptures from burned matchsticks dyed with color from earth, coffee grounds, grape juice, and other natural sources. He worked with household glue and razor blades, making many geometric forms, which had symbolic significance.
Gerald Hawkes was a profound early inspiration for the developers of the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM), located in Baltimore. AVAM holds the single largest collection of Hawkes' sculptures and personal writings; the collection manifests the essence of Hawkes' primary artistic inspiration and love of God, family, and country. Hawkes claims that God speaks to him through a mole in the center of his forehead. Hawkes was a heroin addict as a result of a brutal mugging that made him disabled and ended his work as a medical specialist. He is a self-taught artist. "Each matchstick represents a human being," Hawkes explained. "My work shows the beauty and strength of what can happen when people work together."
Gerald Hawkes died from complications of AIDS in April of 1998, four days after his fifty-fifth birthday. Per his request, his ashes were placed in the AVAM Wildflower Sculpture Garden. In his honor, AVAM held a special exhibition that ran from June 11, 1999 to January 9, 2000 and was entitled Holy Fire: The Matchstick Artistry of Gerald Hawkes. The exhibition showcased forty intricate matchstick sculptures, collages, and utilitarian objects from both its permanent collection and loans. Curated by AVAM director and founder Rebecca Hoffberger, Holy Fire traveled in early 2000 to AVAM's sister institution, The Art Brut Collection, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Hawkes' work is also included in the St. James Place Folk Art Museum in Robersonville, North Carolina. His work and life were also featured at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art in New York in a 1999 exhibition entitled In Sight: Portraits of Folk Artists by Chuck Rosenak.
To see images of work by Gerald Hawkes, visit hotwired.wired.com/popfeatures/96/21/4.html, www.americaohyes.com/pages/hawkes.htm and www.fallonandrosof.com/2005/05/visionary-baltimore.html.
Selected References: "Baltimore's Visionary Trinity: Ann-Clayton Everett Brings Us Up to Date with Events at the American Visionary Art Museum," Raw Vision (No. 27), 1998.
Greenwald, Jeff. "The Tree of Life," HotWired, 1995.
In Sight: Portraits of Folk Artists By Chuck Rosenak An Exhibition at the New York Office of the Archives of American Art, January 22-April 30, 1999.
www.americaohyes.com/pages/hawkes.htm
roberta fallon and libby rosof's artblog.
Maryland Institutions Holding Artworks: American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland; Banneker-Douglas Museum, Annapolis, Maryland
Maryland Institutions Holding Biographical Material: American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
Maryland Institutions Holding Autobiographical Resources, Archives, Personal Papers, Ephemera, or Other Primary Source Material: American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
Single-Artist Exhibitions: George Ciscle Gallery, Baltimore, 1989.
Gasperi Gallery, New Orleans, 1990.
Holy Fire: The Matchstick Artistry of Gerald Hawkes, American Visionary Art Museum, 1999.
Multiple-Artist Exhibitions: partial list:
The Intuitive Eye, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, 1985.
Dream Singers, Story Tellers: An African American Presence, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton/Fukui, Fine Arts Museum, Japan, 1992.
The Tree of Life, American Visionary Art Museum, 24 November 1995 - September 1996.
In Sight: Portraits of Folk Artists By Chuck Rosenak, An Exhibition at the New York Office of the Archives of American Art, January 22-April 30, 1999.
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