Exhibition Dates: Saturday May 1st – June 27th, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 1st, 6 – 8 pm
Location: Arthur Roger Gallery, 432 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
Gallery Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent sculpture by James Surls. The exhibition will be on view at the Arthur Roger Gallery, 432 Julia Street, from May 1st – June 27th, 2010. Mr. Surls will be in attendance at the opening reception hosted by the gallery on Saturday, May 1st, from 6 to 8 pm.

Me, Tree, Black Flower and Knot, 2006

James Surls is an internationally renowned artist known for creating monumental wood and metal sculptures. Based on natural forms, the artist creates sophisticated imagery of diamonds, vortexes, needles and flowers, using wood, steel and bronze,. His sculptural pieces consist of needles or branches radiating from a core. To Surls, this symbolizes growth. “It’s organic,” says Surls, “and organic to me means it has a growth pattern – it develops from the inside out. It’s a seed; it’s a bulb. And that’s true if you’re a flower, a seashell. It’s and inside-out growth pattern.”

Many of Surls’ sculptures are influenced by the East Texas landscape of Splendora, Texas where he was raised. Two works featured in this exhibition have strong connections to this wooded area of Texas: Head and Hoof (2006) and Me, Tree, Black Flower and Knot (2006). In both work, Surls uses blue spruce roots he found in a nearby lake. In Head and Hoof, Surls uses the tree root as a detached leg of a horse, and from it large and small flowers emerge. In Me, Tree, Black Flower and Knot, the tree root serves as an anchor to a forest of metal branches and a large black flower.

Born in East Texas, James Surls has been based in Colorado since 1998. He received his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield, Michigan in 1968. His works have been shown in both national and international solo and group exhibitions, including a spring 2009 exhibition of large scale sculpture presented by the New York City Parks Public Art Program along the Park Avenue Malls in New York City. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Milwaukee Art Museum; the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; the Dallas Museum of Art; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

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