Exhibition Dates: January 9 – February 20, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 9, 6 – 8 pm
Gallery Location: Arthur Roger Gallery, 432 Julia St., New Orleans, LA 70130
Hours: Monday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm
Contact Info: 504.522.1999; www.arthurrogergallery.com

The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present “When the Swan is in the Sky,” an exhibition of mixed media on paper and charcoal on paper by James Drake. The exhibition will be on view at the Arthur Roger Gallery at 432 Julia Street from January 9th – February 20th, 2010. The gallery will host an opening reception to meet the artist on Saturday, January 9th, from 6 to 8 pm.

James Drake’s “When the Swan is in the Sky” exhibition includes two remarkable large scale 12 feet by 8 feet charcoal drawings: “Dancing in the Louvre” and “Barca de Oro.” Eleven other mixed media and charcoal drawings complete the exhibition. A key component in several of James Drake’s complex drawings is the creation of the image through the taping and pasting of fragments.

James Drake is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work has been honored with inclusion in both the Venice Biennale and the Whitney Biennial. In his artistic career James Drake has explored political, social and universal themes through the media of sculpture, video, installation, photography and drawing.

Drake was born in Lubbock, Texas in 1946. He received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California. James Drake’s work is in the permanent collection of over thirty museums including Albright-Knox in Buffalo, New York, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery, Whitney Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston and New Orleans Museum of Art. James Drake is the recipient of a John Guggenheim Fellowship and two National Endowment for the Arts grants.

The University of Texas Press has just published JAMES DRAKE, the first retrospective study of the work of the artist. The book is available at the Arthur Roger Gallery.