DAVID BATES: GRASSY LAKE
Exhibition Dates: May 6 – June 24, 2006
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 6th, 6 – 8 pm (in conjunction with Jammin’ on Julia)
Location: Arthur Roger Gallery, 432 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
Gallery Hours: Monday - Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm
Contact Info: 504.522.1999. www.arthurrogergallery.com
The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present “David Bates: Grassy Lake,” an exhibition of recent paintings by celebrated painter and sculptor David Bates. The exhibition will be on view from May 6th to June 24th at the Arthur Roger Gallery, 432 Julia Street. The artist will be present at the opening reception hosted by the gallery on Saturday, May 6th from 6 to 8 pm in conjunction with “Jammin’ on Julia.”
David Bates first visited Grassy Lake, a 5,000-acre nature sanctuary in southwestern Arkansas, in the summer of 1982. He was immediately captivated by the area’s strange beauty and the visual complexity of the primeval environment of swamps and cypresses. The landscape, people, flora and fauna of Grassy Lake remained a major source of inspiration for Bates until 1979 when the artist made a conscious decision to immerse himself in the world of the Texas Gulf coast.
In this new body of work, the artist returns to Grassy Lake and rediscovers what he loves about the area. Bates explains: “After an introspective period, coinciding with the loss of my parents, the concept of visiting an old friend—Grassy Lake— was comforting and seemed a perfect way to get back to the joy of life. All of the experiences of the last twenty years have deepened and enriched these new paintings of Grassy Lake.”
Bates’ Grassy Lake oil paintings on paper and canvas are boldly mannered, sublimely colored, beautifully crafted compositions. The artist paints imagery expressing his passionate love of the area: moonlight on a remote lake; the remnants of a setting orange sun; a flock of birds; or the shape and texture of a magnolia. Bates’ imagery also includes paintings of ibis, roseate spoonbills, the water peacock and the brown pelican.
David Bates was born in Dallas, Texas in 1952 where he continues to live and work. He studied at Southern Methodist University, earning a B.F.A. in 1975 and an M.F.A. in 1978. In 1976 he was chosen to participate in the independent study program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The resulting year in New York exposed him to a variety of influences, and he experimented with a wide range of media and styles. After returning to Dallas the following year, Bates started to explore his lifelong love of folk art and his deep affinity for the South, its people, and the area’s physical and cultural landscape.
Bates has exhibited widely throughout the United States. In 2004 his work was the focus of David Bates: Paintings & Reliefs, a 20-year retrospective at The Dallas Center for Contemporary Art; and in 1987 his work was included in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s prestigious Biennial Exhibition. Bates’ paintings and sculpture are included in the permanent collections of leading museums across the country including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; the New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
For additional information contact the Arthur Roger Gallery at 504.522.1999 or visit our web site arthurrogergallery.com.
