At the occasion of his latest exhibition at the Arthur Roger Gallery, “R.I.P. Bruce A. Davenport, Jr./Artwork by Dapper Bruce Lafitte”, the artist Dapper Bruce Lafitte gave an interview and offered his latest thoughts about his art, art in general and how he became an artist.
The exhibition titled “R.I.P. Bruce A. Davenport, Jr. | Artwork by Dapper Bruce Lafitte” is on view at Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans. The exhibition features colorful drawings by the artist that focuses on the city of New Orleans. Lafitte’s works include references to the city’s numerous schools, businesses, parks, institutions and its people.
John T. Scott: His Legacy and R.I.P. Bruce A. Davenport, Jr. | Artwork by Dapper Bruce Lafitte at Arthur Roger Gallery run through Sept. 23
It’s hot. It’s humid. It’s summer; which means the time has yet again come for droves of art patrons and revelers alike to garb themselves in linens woven of white and gather in the streets to party like an artist. Julia Street to be precise. The annual art-meets-wine extravaganza known as Whitney White Linen Night is once again upon us.
You don’t need to be an art buff to appreciate the New Orleans Museum of Art’s most recent exhibition: “Pride of Place: The Making of Contemporary Art in New Orleans.” Pride of Place celebrates art collector and gallery owner Arthur Roger’s personal collection that he gifted to the museum.
Arthur Roger has donated 80 works of art from his personal collection to the New Orleans Museum of Art. This stunning gift to the community is made even more important by the breadth of the backgrounds of the artists whose works he has shown and represented at his gallery, Arthur Roger Gallery. He was a pioneer in showing contemporary art by local artists, women artists, and African American artists when other galleries had not begun showing any of these.
When Arthur Roger launched his gallery in 1978, there were only a handful of others focused on new art. The scene has expanded greatly since then, but Roger has more than kept abreast of the ever-changing art world through the years, as we see in this sprawling new exhibition of works from his personal collection, which he donated recently to the New Orleans Museum of Art.
It’s a safe bet to say that the contemporary art scene in New Orleans would be a lot less interesting without Arthur Roger. For nearly 40 years, his gallery has been a focal point for introducing the city to major currents in the national and international art scene, as well as for launching and nurturing the careers of some of the most prominent New Orleans-based artists working today.
[Arthur Roger’s] donation — paintings, sculpture and photography by local and national luminaries of modern art — comprises a new NOMA exhibit, “Pride of Place: The Making of Contemporary Art in New Orleans.” The exhibit opens Friday and runs through Sept. 3. In the exhibit’s 143-page catalog, museum Director Susan M. Taylor describes the gift as “transformational.” It “significantly expands” NOMA’s contemporary art holdings and “reaffirms the museum’s commitment to the work of local New Orleans artists,” she said.
On June 1, Arthur Roger’s personal collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs and mixed media pieces will be taken off his walls, packed away and carted over to the New Orleans Museum of Art. He recently donated more than 80 pieces to the museum, including works by national and regional artists such as Luis Cruz Azaceta, Willie Birch, Douglas Bourgeois, Robert Colescott, George Dureau, Robert Gordy, Deborah Kass, Catherine Opie, Robert Polidori, Holton Rower and John Waters, among others.