In his second exhibition with the gallery, photographer David Leventi presents his images of the interiors of world-famous opera houses juxtaposed with images of the interiors of the last remaining domed prisons. Together, they are a study in contrasts – the lavish social theaters versus stark dwellings of incarceration and deprivation.
This exhibition, the artist’s fourth with the gallery, includes recent works on canvas and paper. The intricate compositions of the medium- to large-scale paintings reveal familiar scenes – ships lined up in the winding Mississippi river with its lush green borders flecked with buildings; industrial cargo lifts and cranes dotted with spotlights reflecting in the placid water; dogs and cats frolicking in streets lined with shotgun homes and jutting stoops; vendors selling fresh produce from over-filled trucks.
IT’S DIFFICULT TO place exhibits in New Orleans at this time of this year outside of the context of The Storm. The subject looms like heavy billowing clouds, densely gray and thickly churning, an extended horizontal weight floating and staying just above our heads. Many of us are walking with eyes cast down, or otherwise away from the reminders of ten years gone. At New Orleans Museum of Art, it is an apt title for an exhibit comprised of work not necessarily about Katrina. At Arthur Roger Gallery, the concept also appears to be at the heart of three exhibitions.
Deborah Luster, a photographer from Louisiana, was named the 2015 winner of the 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art, an award bestowed by the Gibbes Museum of Art.
Black lives matter. All lives matter. Both statements are true, but it is astounding that we are still debating the meaning of those words. We accept equal rights in theory, but things don’t always play out that way on the streets.
“TEN YEARS GONE,” was curated by NOMA’s Russell Lord and slated to signal the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It takes on a capacious, four-part theme: “time, memory, loss and transformation.” And the exhibition, as Lord puts it, sought “to situate the significance of the past decade within a larger context of human endeavor and life experience.”
Juxtaposing tradition with innovation, this exhibition presents painting, photography, and video by artists from Israel, Holland, Canada, and the United States who build on, respond to, and transform the time-honored tradition of still life through the lens of the 21st century.
