Press & Media

Review: Paintings by David Bates

Dallas artist David Bates may be the finest painter his hometown has ever produced, but when it comes to his favorite sport, he heads to Louisiana and the remote extremities of Plaquemines Parish. While the paintings in this Down Highway 23 series reflect the everyday lives of fishermen, they were inspired by a trip he made in 2010, when instead of the usual scenes of shrimpers, oystermen and boats laden with the day’s catch, he encountered a coastal dystopia defined by reporters, politicians, tar balls, oil slicks and clean up crews in hazmat suits. Evidence of the BP oil disaster was everywhere in a coastal landscape transformed into something nightmarish, but amid the chaos he began to spot the familiar faces of those who derived their living from those waters. What he saw in them was not defeat but the same resilience that had faced many hurricanes and come back for more.

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“Mary Jane Parker: Keepsakes,” R&F Paints

by Laura, R&F Paints I recently attended the Southern Graphics Councils’ annual conference, which was held this year in New Orleans. One of the highlights for me was an opportunity to catch up with the work of artist, Mary Jane Parker, who had a solo show at the Gallery at R&F in 2008. In her… 

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Willie Birch at Exit Art’s final exhibition “Every Exit is an Entrance: 30 Years of Exit Art”

Exit Art announces its final exhibition EVERY EXIT IS AN ENTRANCE: 30 YEARS OF EXIT ART. Founded in 1982 by Executive Director Jeanette Ingberman and Artistic Director Papo Colo, Exit Art has grown from a pioneering alternative art space into an innovative cultural center. We have supported and fostered a vibrant, interdisciplinary artistic community in New York, organizing over 200 exhibitions, events, festivals and programs featuring more than 2,500 artists. Consistently challenging social, political, aesthetic and curatorial norms, Exit Art has organized historical exhibitions; presented the work of young, emerging, under-recognized and mid-career artists; produced experimental theater and performance works; and organized national and international film and video programs. Committed early on to experimenting with the intersections of film, video, performance, music, publications, design and visual art, Exit Art remained steadfast in its mission to provide new possibilities and opportunities for both artists and audiences alike.

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“Francis X. Pavy: A Louisiana bicentennial exhibition,” Gambit

Birds of North America, 2012. Block print and oil on canvas. 30 x 48 inches

Firmly rooted in the culture of south Louisiana, Lafayette artist Francis X. Pavy (b. 1954) arranges archetypal images into patterns within his paintings, block prints and sculptures. His colors and shapes walk the line between complementary and discordant, resulting in a variety of iconic yet contemporary Cajun imagery, all battling on his canvas for attention, in the same way daily aspects of Cajun culture – food, music, and art — resist hierarchical alignment.

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“John T. Scott: The Times-Picayune covers 175 years of New Orleans history,” The Times-Picayune

Renowned artist John T. Scott’s colorful kinetic sculpture captured the New Orleans spirit. In 1992, Xavier University art professor Scott, who lived from 1940 to 2007, was awarded a $315,000 John D. MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as a genius grant. It was a career-capping acknowledgement of Scott’s devotion to artistic experimentation and education that made him the city’s most influential modernist. Large-scale sculptures by Scott can be found in DeSaix Circle, City Park and at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

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