Jesse Howard has been referred to as an inspired and magnificent artist and as a crank and a pariah. A self-taught or so-called outsider artist, Howard was a religious evangelist and a stalwart supporter of what he called "free thought and free speech." Born in Missouri, he spent his youth traveling around the western United States doing odd jobs, eventually returning to his home state. Starting in the 1940s he created what eventually became an immersive environment of hand-lettered signs on his property in Fulton, Missouri, expressing religious and political views. In 1968, in his influential Art in America essay on outsider art environments in the United States, Gregg Blasdel focused on fifteen artists including Howard, likening them to Simon Rodia and his Watts Towers, among others. Today, however, nothing is left of Howard’s original environment, as the sign paintings were all sold. Untitled (What is truth…) reflects Howard’s interest in both religion and politics and has a specific connection to California, referring as it does to Gov. (Pat) Brown, who led the state from 1959 to 1967.
