Douglas Bourgeois: The Balm of Mystery
Exhibition Dates: February 3 – April 20, 2024
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 2 from 6–8 pm
Gallery Location: 434 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 AM–5 PM
Contact Info: 504.522.1999; www.arthurrogergallery.com
The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present The Balm of Mystery, an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Douglas Bourgeois. The exhibition will be on view at Arthur Roger@434, located at 434 Julia Street, from February 3 – April 20, 2024. The gallery will host opening receptions with the artist in attendance on Saturdays, March 2 from 6–8 pm and April 6 from 6–9 pm in conjunction with Jammin’ on Juila in the Arts District of New Orleans.
The Balm of Mystery marks Douglas Bourgeois’ tenth exhibition with the gallery, presenting never-before-shown oil paintings from the last fifteen years as well as 100 graphite portraits. Bourgeois, known for his meticulous attention to detail, employs both a restrained, almost monochromatic color scheme and a technicolor hyper-reality, creating dreamlike and fantastical scenes that invite viewers into a world of artistic wonder.
Throughout the exhibit, various threads and recurring motifs emerge, including depictions of revered music performers, portraits sourced from 1940s–70s high school and college annuals, and precisely-rendered fauna representing the artist's South Louisiana roots. This common visual language guides the viewer on an exploration of shared human experiences like grief, melancholy, and dread along with topical themes like COVID loss and the American political horror. With this body of work, Douglas Bourgois offers a transformative journey, turning the inexpressible into a sustaining breath.
Douglas Bourgeois was born in 1951 in the rural southern Louisiana community of St. Amant in Ascension Parish. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1974 from Louisiana State University and worked in New Orleans for several years before returning to St. Amant in 1981. He received critical acclaim for his 2004 mid-career retrospective exhibition Baby-Boom Daydreams: The Art of Douglas Bourgeois organized by the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans; and again later for his inclusion in the 2014 Prospect.3 New Orleans Biennial at the same venue. He has received numerous awards throughout his career including a Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Award in 2007, a Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship in 1992; a Southeastern Artist Fellowship from the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art and R. J. Reynolds in 1987; and an Award in the Visual Arts Fellowship from Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in 1981. His work is in numerous prestigious collections including the Frederick R. Weisman Collection, Los Angeles, CA; the National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; the New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA.
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