Ab the Flagman Biography

Flag Fascination
The Self Taught Creations of Ab the Flagman
by jantje blokhuis-mulder

He was discovered selling his wooden flag creations to fans outside Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium... This is his story.

Ab was born Roger Lee Ivens in 1964 at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. Roger Lee was only seven when his father, an army man, passed away. At age seven, death was not easy to understand. Roger's father was given a full military funeral with the American flag draped over the coffin. At the end of the service the flag was folded and presented to his older sister. Roger was drawn to that flag and from it grew the desire to create and continue the quest for the freedom that his father fought for.

Not long after the family's tragic loss, young Roger and his mother moved from Lookout Mountain to Atlanta Georgia where they started a new life.

Young Roger had two passions. One was music - as a youngster his mother drove him all over the state of Georgia, where he performed as a solo singer in various Baptist Churches. Roger also had a gift for creating art and it was this combination of interests that would shape his future.

One fine day in his teenage years, Roger asked his teacher the meaning of the word abstract as he had seen the word used to describe some art. As a joke, his classmates started calling him Abstract. The name stuck. Much later, while working on a construction job, his co-workers changed it to Ab.

Ab became a carpenter and it was while he was working at a wood shop that he began to see a correlation between the pieces of left over wood the flags he had been collecting since his father's death. Using scrap pieces of wood, old discarded doors and chairs, he re-arranged the pieces in a unique new way. By layering and interweaving the pieces, he turned them into three dimensional sculptures of the American flag. It was this creative effort that ultimately earned him the title Flagman.

Most of Ab's marvelous creations include freedom symbols like the Statue of Liberty, eagles, faces of U.S. Presidents and of course, the flag.

Not many folk artists have climbed to fame as fast as Ab the Flagman. From the sale of his first creation at the side of the road in Atlanta Georgia, to being represented by a number of well-known art galleries, he has become a full-fledged folk artist, whose work is collected and treasured. He is also lead singer in a country rock band called The X-Miss Americas.

Ab, we salute you. Keep on creating.

Ab the Flagman has been creating art most of his life. His interest in flags was sparked at a young age at his father's military burial, igniting Ab's self-taught career of transforming found objects (mostly wood) into red, white and blue works of art.

Known as "The Flagman" for over nine years, Ab creates flags in all shapes and sizes, from three-dimensional forms to flags in the shape of the United States. His abstract vision of such an infinite symbol is what gives his pieces power. (His nickname, "Ab," is short for "Abstract.") Recently, he has taken his vision and unique style a step beyond the American flag to other commanding icons, including the eagle, Statue of Liberty and mythological Atlas.

Ab's art has dominated the outsider art scene and received several awards at
Southeastern art festivals. His works have been featured in many national and international galleries - including Art 54 Gallery in New York and Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta (his hometown). He is also one of a select few artists chosen to decorate the House of Blues in various cities across the country.

Ab's works are enduring images of American culture. In fact, Ab - who is also a singer, songwriter, musician and filmmaker - prefers the title of "culture maker" to artist. To him, "culture exists in the arts."

A frugal, creative man who’s interesting modern-primitive folk art is often derived from discarded objects found in abandoned, once burgeoning, mills and factories, Ab the Flagman has become a nationally celebrated folk artist whose work often garners between four and five figures per piece.

His eclectic Americana styled wood-works and paintings have been the rage at New York galleries, embellished magazine covers, the New Britain Museum of American Art, House of Blues in Orlando, Texas State University, and graced a multitude of private and public shows along the east coast and mid-west. Expanding beyond the flag motif, his works have expanded to include life size Indians, eagles, intricate sculptures of American Presidents at historical significant sites, and symbolic works incorporating cityscapes and the plight of early settlers.