Seymour Perkins has died

Remember odd, strange Seymour Perkins?

He has died.

Elaine Ayo at the Express-News recalls his controversial life:

Perkins, 78, an eccentric self-taught artist who earned a national reputation among collectors of so-called "outsider" art, died Tuesday night at a local hospital, said Carlos Richardson, president of the Denver Heights Neighborhood Association.

It was a reputation almost unnoticed amid the controversies surrounding his house. City officials and some neighbors had called the house a haven for criminal activity and a dangerous, dilapidated building that needed to be torn down.

But supporters of Perkins called it a priceless piece of San Antonio culture that just needed to be cleaned up. Perkins’ case now sits in the 4th Court of Appeals, more than a year after a city board voted to demolish the house.

Its walls had been adorned with paintings and drawings, but these works were lost when the house was damaged in an October (2008) fire. A November 1997 fire destroyed the initial stages of the museum Perkins was dedicating to his slain daughter, Debbie Jo.

R.I.P Perkins.



(E-N slideshow here. Earlier Strange stuff here.)