On View: September 15, 2017 – November 12, 2017
Self-taught artist Justin Duerr comes to Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens to cover the galleries with his complex, spiraling works of art. Time’s Funeral is a collection of Duerr’s detailed drawings that depicts the solemn, and at times, joyful procession of characters marching through a mystical world. This exhibition features many of Duerr’s framed drawings as well as an ongoing work that spans over a hundred feet in length.
Duerr is an avid storyteller and a master in line drawing. Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, Duerr grew up interested in ancient Egyptian mythology and oddities in pop culture. He has lived a unique life of traveling, squatting in various abandoned buildings, and working different jobs on land and at sea. An intense vision of a vast universe was revealed to him during a long period of seclusion, which has fueled his passion to create for the past twenty years.
Each piece is methodically drawn with markers and contains poems that offer insight into the artist’s mystical world and his robust imagination. Heroes, high priestesses, and supernatural beings dance across each drawing through swirling constellations. Duerr hopes that before the time of his death he will create one last scroll that connects back to his first drawing, completing the tale of his world that will one day have no beginning or end.
Duerr’s art has been celebrated in many solo and group exhibitions, and has been part of different organizations that support self-taught artists. In addition to his art, Duerr writes music and sings in two Philadelphia-based bands. Continuing his interest in the strange, he has been recognized for his role in a feature length documentary called Resurrect Dead, where he leads the investigation in the mystery behind the “Toynbee Tiles” embedded throughout the streets of Philadelphia.
