Exhibition Dates: August 7th – September 11th, 2010
Location: Arthur Roger@434, 434 Julia St., New Orleans, LA 70130
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 7th, 6 – 9 pm
Gallery Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Contact Info : 504.522.1999; www.arthurrogergallery.com

The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present “Black and White,” an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Bunny Matthews. The exhibition will be on view at Arthur Roger@434, located at 434 Julia Street, August 7 – September 11, 2010. Mr. Matthews will be in attendance at the opening reception hosted by the gallery on Saturday, August 7th, from 6 to 9 pm in conjunction with “White Linen Night.”

Nint' Wardica, 2010

This exhibition includes a series of drawings based on African-American themes, including provocative reinterpretations of famous works by other artists. Galvanizing the show’s theme will be Nint’ Wardica—Bunny’s ambitious re-imagining of Pablo Picasso’s monumental Guernica. Rendered in black, white and shades of gray, the 10-foot-long mural, depicting violence wrought upon New Orleans and Louisiana by man and nature, offers an arresting counterpoint to the colorful meditations on “blackness” in Bunny’s Afrocentric drawings-which, collectively, comprise a vividly idiosyncratic discourse on the subject of race in New Orleans history and culture.

Also featured in the exhibition is a sampling of images featuring Matthews’ iconic Vic and Nat’ly cartoon characters. In 1982, Bunny created the cartoon characters Vic and Nat”ly Broussard for the Times-Picayune’s Dixie magazine. Subsequently, these diehard denizens of “Da Nint’ Ward” graced the sides of the entire fleet of Leidenheimer Baking Company’s delivery trucks, a Bacchus Mardi Gras float, posters celebrating Barq’s Root Beer’s 100th anniversary and murals at the Audubon Zoo, the Audubon Insectarium, the Louisiana State Museum and the official City of New Orleans Pavilion at the 1984 World’s Fair.

Bunny’s work has been exhibited at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Contemporary Arts Center, the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the St. Tammany Art Association. Many of his original drawings are in the permanent collection of the Historic New Orleans Collection.

For additional information please contact the Arthur Roger Gallery at 504.522.1999 or visit our Web site www.arthurrogergallery.com.