Meet the Peelers is online-only and all artworks are available for direct purchase on the SHRINE website. The exhibition features 22 unique and original artworks, all double-sided and in various shapes and sizes.

For more than 40 years, Armistead and Parlee Peeler painted together at night, working side by side in their small living room in Memphis, TN, to pass the time after work. Armistead, or “Armsterd” as he often spelled it, worked at a local sawmill and used a metal TV-tray to paint on his lap. His wife Parlee, who grew up farming, kept up their house and maintained an impressive vegetable garden. She began painting after her husband’s work began receiving attention at local fairs and festivals, where Armistead sold his double-sided paintings on found wood and jigsaw-cut panels out of the back of his obsessively decorated pickup truck.

The couple developed a shared approach to art making and created images depicting smiling devils, ghosts, fantastical creatures, Santa Claus, butterflies, mermaids and rural farm animals that were all stream-of-consciousness and highly graphic. Both artists favored high-contrast, vivid palettes and deftly shifted between abstraction and more representational works. It is thought many of the finished paintings were done collaboratively with each artist painting on opposing sides of the wooden planks. It is not easy to decipher whose hand created each work, or each side of a work, so it feels important to celebrate and credit both artists’ contributions to their oeuvre in tandem.

The Peelers are estimated to have created more than 500 works together over the course of decades, and art-making was obviously a bonding experience for the husband and wife. While painting began as a pastime for the couple, it quickly evolved into an obsession for the duo and the activity had a slightly competitive edge as each artist tried to outdo the other. Painting also helped to relieve the stress of working in a sawmill for Armistead and offered Parlee an escape from the mundane aspects of homemaking. As Armistead aptly said, “I love painting. I really do. I’d rather paint than eat. It fills me up.”

As self-taught Black artists who lived in the American South, the couple’s creations reference their own histories and experiences, and also the difficulties encountered along the way. The works speak for themselves, which is lucky for us as there is very little biographical information available, and beyond being clear examples of American art brut, the paintings also unconsciously resonate with contemporary trends. While the Peeler’s stories are expressed through a highly personalized and abstracted lens, we can still see (and feel) a glimpse of who these individuals were.

All paintings are available for direct purchase HERE. Click each individual work to see the front and back sides of the work.