The Best Thing I Ever Thrifted With Adam Oestreich
The man behind the wildly cool @folkartwork account shows off his prized pig
A short while ago, I launched a new series on What’s Left called The Best Thing I Ever Thrifted, in which I highlight the finds of tastemakers, vintage fiends, and generally cool people. The first issue focused on Heather Hurst’s insane antique Chinese cabinet.
This week, I am thrilled to introduce you to Adam Oestreich and the best thing he ever thrifted.
Adam runs @folkartwork on Instagram and the This Week in Outsider Art newsletter on Substack. He is an expert in outsider or folk art — the terms most often used to describe works produced by artists who are self-taught (i.e. not professionally educated in art and not part of the artistic establishment).
Later this year, Adam will host the first-ever Folk Artwork exhibit in Des Moines, Iowa — Faces In The Crowd showcases a group show of fifteen outsider artists from around the world, and opens on Saturday, November 9.
I was so excited to chat with him about his favorite find from his own collection.
Here, he tells us about his prized pig — a three-foot-long Felipe Benito Archuleta sculpture he sourced in Iowa that is, he jokingly explains, “both cute and menacing.” (And for the record, similar pieces have sold for as much as $3,500 at auction, so this is one fancy pig.)
“The best thing I ever thrifted was a Felipe Benito Archuleta pig sculpture, created on August 14th, 1977, and found at my favorite antique store in Des Moines, Iowa.
I was running errands with my 4-year-old son, and we stopped at our favorite antique store. It was the place that was packed to the rafters with antiques from all over the world, some of which had probably been on the shelves for decades. We entered the store, and my son immediately darted to the rock-em-sock-em robots. As I began looking at the front tables, I saw a wonderfully dusty and adorable wooden pig sculpture. It was terrifying, but I immediately knew it was special. It wasn’t until I picked it up and saw the red paint on the bottom, ‘F-B-A,’ that I was certain it was a sculpture by the grandfather of New Mexico wood carving, Felipe Benito Archuleta.
The store was selling this sculpture for a friend, who purchased it directly from Archuleta in New Mexico in 1977. As soon as I knew what it was, I texted my wife a picture, saying, ‘I don’t know how much this is worth, but I am bringing it home... I will explain later.’ The store had terrible cell service, so I’m not sure it even went through. Luckily, it was only a couple hundred dollars, and I knew it was worth it. I had to rip my son from the rock-em-sock-em robots to get it home as fast as possible. I put it in the back of our SUV. I contemplated having my son sit in the back holding on to it for his dear life (we only lived a few blocks away), but instead, I drove very slowly and tried to explain to a very confused 4-year-old why we just ran out of the store with this large pig sculpture.
Since coming home with us, our Archuleta pig has been on display in many locations, from the dining room to a brief stint on top of the refrigerator and then spending a year on the dresser in our bedroom.
After my son woke up in the middle of the night and became slightly unnerved by seeing its face, it has been moved to our new office space and currently sits behind me here as I write this.
I love this sculpture because I love the story of Felipe Benito Archuleta and his animal wood carvings. In particular, what makes this so special is that it really jump-started my interest in collecting art. It was one of the first times I felt that the late nights of looking through folk and outsider art and learning about self-taught artists and their artworks really paid off.
My interest in folk art started in 2018 when I entered a William Hawkins exhibit at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa. I was unfamiliar with his work, but it completely blew me away, and I wanted to know everything there was to know about folk, outsider, and self-taught artists. There were a few things I missed out on at this antique store where I purchased my Archuleta pig. Unfortunately, the store burned down a year later, and every time we drove by, my son said, ‘It’s a bummer about all those artworks we couldn’t save from the fire.’
The one item I dream of having is a large, colorful painting by William Hawkins hanging above my fireplace.”
Be sure to follow @folkartwork on Instagram and subscribe to Adam’s “This Week in Outsider Art” newsletter on Substack. And thank you Adam for sharing this wonderful story!
Rapid Fire
Skin Secrets: I’ve been getting lots of questions about my skincare lately so I started a chat about it! I did a SkinPen treatment last Thursday and have two more scheduled for the coming months. It’s basically a micro needling treatment done all over your face, and helps your skin create collagen and heal any textural issues, scarring, etc. I’ve done A LOT of lasers. Like, probably every one you can do: Moxie, RF Microneedling, Fraxel, IPL, even the vampire facial where they cover your face in your own blood…SkinPen is not at all intensive nor painful and you look totally fine after — so it’s a good one if you’re new to that kind of thing. Otherwise, I’ve been sticking to lots of topicals: my red light mask every night, my beloved (and affordable!) Vitamin C serum every morning, and this new toner that works like a peel (use it 3x/week overnight, on clean skin). I was thinking about doing an AMA about EVERYTHING I’ve ever done to my skin (procedures and all!), so let me know if you’d be interested in that.
A space I’ve been thinking about a lot: Designer Giambattista Valli’s French home, where none of the art is hung on the walls. Instead, it’s just casually propped against the walls. And that wall color! And those florals. This all feels so romantic to me:
And I’ll leave you with this…
I love your content, because I learn something new every time! If I saw that pig in my travels I would think “that’s cool, but not my taste,” but now I know it would be worth scooping up! I want to know how much he paid for the pig! 🐽
Yes on the AMA on your skin treatments! I have five available to me that I purchased at a laser place in South PV - I did an IPL that was totally useless and they’ve always worked on me. I told them that I could take a lot of intensity and apparently they didn’t listen. But all the others you mentioned are available to me and I’m trying to figure out what order and which ones to do!