The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of W. Steve Rucker’s most recent installation entitled “Better Homes, Better Gardens.” The gallery will host a reception for the artist on Friday evening, November 13th, from 6 – 8 PM. The gallery is located at 136 Prince Street, between Wooster and West Broadway, and is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 – 6, and Saturday from 11 – 6.
“Better Homes, Better Gardens” is the fourth in a series of site-specific installations dealing with social and environmental issues. Working in painted ceramics, steel, electric lights, and found objects, Rucker has created a miniature neighborhood of “houses” and “gardens,” in which he explores the nightmarish aspects of suburbia – drug abuse, poisonous insecticides, illegal guns, gambling. As in his previous installations, Rucker successfully combines biting satire with hilarious wit.
W. Steve Rucker has received numerous awards and fellowships and has been exhibiting in galleries and museums for over ten years. In 1991 Rucker was first shown in New York at the Arthur Roger Gallery with his installation “Post-Modern Pharming,” in which he humorously depicted the abuses of animal testing in the cosmetic and medical industries.
Well-known for both his environmental installations and his pioneering work in pyrotechnic sculpture, Rucker, 38, lives and works in New Orleans, and is presently on the faculty of the Loyola University in Louisiana.