Willie Jinks in "Amazing Grace"

There are several Georgia painters featured in Amazing Grace: Self-Taught Artists from the Mullis Collection now open at the Georgia Museum of Art.

One of the Georgia self-taught artists in the exhibition is Willie Jinks. Retired after three decades working for the Department of Sanitation in Atlanta, Jinks lives in a small apartment in that city and is no longer creating art. At his previous art-filled residence, also in Atlanta, Jinks painted on doors, tables, and other found materials. His two large paintings in this exhibition (one of which I show at the right) portray a down-to-earth, everyday event, where several lively dogs chase giant birds. Employing a palette of bright colors, Jinks places flat areas of bright blue, black, and tan against a brilliant yellow background, all daubed with spots of vivid reds, blacks, green, and white. The effect is energizing: the multicolored specks and smudges disrupt the painting’s surface just as one supposes the yaps and yowls of the barking dogs punctuate the air.

Image: Willie Jinks (b. 1922), Birds with Tree, 1998. Paint on plywood, 83 1/8 x 47 3/8 inches. The Mullis Collection.

The collector, Carl Mullis, has an essay in the exhibition book. In his essay, Mullis writes:

"I have derived great pleasure from visiting with local self-taught artists whole works I have collected. For almost a year, I went to Willie Jinks's home in south Altanta nearly every week, and after each visit, I had a meal at Harold's Barbecue, located nearby. Inside both places, one could find great treasures, although of a different nature. Good art and good barbecue--what more do you need for a great day?

Jinks was quite a character. He was a former sanitation worker, who quit riding his beloved motorcycle in his eighties only after a serious accident. He was in his seventies when he began painting, and he painted everything in his house."

Image: Willie Jinks in his yard with some of his paintings. Photograph by Carl Mullis.