With 18 different venues spread throughout New Orleans from small arts spaces in Treme and Central City to major museums such as the New Orleans Museum of Art, the contemporary art biennial Prospect.3 certainly doesn’t make it easy for an individual to stand out from the over 50 participating artists in the show. But Southern Louisiana artist Douglas Bourgeois does that with his bizarrely beautiful paintings…
In New Orleans, Bourgeois has long been one of the most celebrated of contemporary Louisiana painters. Over the years, he’s had 10 solo shows in Louisiana and four outside the state, and he’s been part of more than 40 group shows. Local curators, critics and other art-minded people remain ardent supporters. It’s easy to see why.
Louisiana master Douglas Bourgeois’ soul-satisfying paintings of pop stars and passionate music lovers may be the No. 1 crowd-pleaser at New Orleans’ international art festival, Prospect.3.
This two-person exhibition of recent work by Jacqueline Bishop and Douglas Bourgeois is startling in a number of ways. Both artists bring a mind-boggling deftness to the act of painting, with imagery you might need a magnifying glass to appreciate fully.
It’s called A Loss for Words, and this two-person exhibition of recent work by Jacqueline Bishop and Douglas Bourgeois is startling in any number of ways. Both bring a mind-boggling deftness to the act of painting, with imagery that you might need a magnifying glass to fully appreciate.
What’s left to say about Louisiana masters Jacqueline Bishop and Douglas Bourgeois? They are the cream of the generation of Bayou State artists who came of age artistically while Ron and Nancy were in the White House.
It’s like a weird dream. Soul siren Irma Thomas, dressed in a golden Jackie Kennedy pantsuit, beckons us into a lush landscape of blue irises, python-like oak limbs, and red-winged black birds that sing along to old-fashioned phonograph records
Douglas Bourgeois may be the most successful obscure artist in America. His smallish paintings command respectable prices—for their size, by New York standards—and his most recent show of over one hundred paintings, drawings, and collages sold quickly Arthur Roger Gallery; November 4—December 12. 2006].
Douglas Bourgeois, both magician and mechanic, deconstructs and reconfigures reality as a hermetic and skewed detail-packed world. He is an artist of these times, this country, and, specifically, New Orleans.
Working day after day in his St. Amant, La., studio near Gonzales, it usually takes Douglas Bourgeois three years to create enough of his small, hyper-detailed artwork for a show.
This time, Hurricane Katrina delayed his planned exhibition, adding another year to his intensive work schedule.