As a filmmaker, John Waters could always see both the trash in glamour and the glamour in trash. His earlier, underground movies, starring the plus-size drag queen Divine (who died in 1988), are as exuberant in their devotion to the outré as they were, and in some ways still are, shocking.
Once crowned The Pope of Trash by William Burroughs, and now hailed as the genius behind the smash-hit Broadway musical Hairspray, John Waters (b. 1946) is not only a controversial director, but also a powerful, perceptive visual artist. This book, published on the occasion of his first major museum exhibition, surveys his still photographic works made over the past decade, and also features stills from his seldom-seen no-budget films and objects from Waters’s personal collection that reflect his fascination with photographic imagery, the mass media, and outrageous expressions of American popular culture.
John Scott has spent his life transforming metal and wood into visual stories about black culture in New Orleans.
But the artist’s biggest challenge may be his latest: turning the derelict Lincoln Beach into a premier recreation spot while preserving its rich history through art.
Ida Kohlmeyer: Systems of Color – A chronology , bibliography, and listing of exhibitions, collections, and commissions complete this comprehensive treatment of an important second-generation abstract expressionist, and one of the first of a generation of influential women artists to emerge in the second half of the 20th century.
Provocative. Witty. Humorous. Pungent. What more can one say about the art of Willie Birch at the other Arthur Roger Gallery in the New Renaissance Hotel at the comer of Tchoupitoulas and Julia Streets?
When artist Al Souza mentions his recent “paintings,” he is not referring to works that he made using oils, acrylics or brushes. Instead, the medium he uses to make these works is glue, and his raw materials are jigsaw puzzles.
Wow! I was quietly surprised by what I saw when I walked through the door of the Arthur Roger Gallery Saturday morning! Like the way a modem automobile bumper contact with a wall and then proceeds, slowly absorbing the shock of the impact as the hydraulic cylinders compress before bringing the car to a gentle halt. The gentleness is misleading for physics informs us that the energy is evenly distributed and passed on, not just reduced. A room full of large flowers and plants hanging on the wall and standing on the floor – paintings, collages, reliefs, and freestanding forms – terrestrial descendants of the cosmic effect of gamma rays on man in the moon marigolds brought into being with the physical exuberance of Bates’ handling of materials as creative energy reproduces the vital energy of plants and flowers.
Old-fashioned modern art is alive and well at Arthur RogerGallery, where renowned Dallas artist David Bates’ aggressive abstractions dominate the walls.
Figurative art, a style that goes all the way back to the old cave days, seems to be making a comeback. Over the ages, the figure has symbolized everything from ancient Greek gods to R. Crumb’s Mr. Natural and the archetypal Americans now seen in Tom Tomorrow’s cartoons.
The fascinating work of acclaimed figurative artist Douglas Bourgeois is the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia through February 15, 2004.