Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Love and Saucers: David Huggins’ Out-of-this-World Art and Romance

Outsider art does get more outside than that of painter David Huggins. His inspiration and subject matter is truly extraterrestrial. For years, he has painted the aliens that visited him, including Crescent, with whom he lost his virginity as young teenager down south. It was sort of like Summer of ’42, but with UFOs and little gray men. Huggins might just be the most convincing alien abductee ever filmed when he tells his story in Brad Abrahams’ documentary, Love and Saucers (trailer here), which releases today on VOD.

Huggins is a fairly well-known figure on the UFO circuit, but he stands apart from the field. For one thing, he does not describe his experiences in nightmarish terms, like skeptics and casual observers would expect TV shows and films like Communion and The X-Files. After all, he was getting regular action. You could even say he was in a caring relationship with Crescent, who followed him from rural Georgia, where he grew up, to Hoboken, where he has lived for decades.

Yes, Huggins has a pretty crazy story. He is also surprisingly credible, precisely because he does not appear desperate to convince anyone. His folksy attitude appears to be: believe it or not, but either way, it’s no skin of is nose. However, the last second revelation that Huggins has lived with his ex-wife for the last twenty years (presumably sharing him with Crescent), but she refused to participate in the documentary, ends the film on a frustrating note. Obviously, there is just so much more to his story, but Abrahams couldn’t get it on film.

Still, Huggins is a pleasant fellow to spend time with—and his grown son Michael (who does appear) comes across as a well-adjusted, gracious fellow. Regrettably, we never get to meet any of the hundreds of hybrid children he sired with Crescent, but you have to expect that, because they are aliens. He is also rather unique among so-called outsider artists, considering he studied at the Art Students League of New York (whose famous alumni include Georgia O’Keeffe, Norman Rockwell, and Ai Weiwei).


Essentially, L&S is a relaxed film that invites the audience to get to know Huggins over a cup of coffee and a cheese danish. Frankly, it is a nice change of pace from all the paranoid Art Bell claptrap that usually dominates discussions of alien contact. Recommended for UFO watchers and connoisseurs of outsider art, Love and Saucers releases today on VOD, from the Orchard.