Category: Press Releases
NATCHITOCHES, LOUISIANA … The Old Courthouse Museum in Natchitoches introduces Cajun Artist George Rodrigue and his renowned works to the North Louisiana public beginning June 8 and continuing through November 17, 2007.
The exhibit is a trio-themed show with a few early paintings of the famed Blue Dog, some of his newest Blue Dog paintings and ten portraits of award-winning authors and guests of the Flora Levy Lecture Series from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The largest portion of the show will feature The Saga of the Acadians collection.
The exhibit will open on the evening of Friday, June 8 with the artist as honored guest introducing his works of art to the audience. A reception honoring Rodrigue will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 8.
George Rodrigue is a native of New Iberia, La. He attended the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles in the mid-60s. Rodrigue’s works of art uses Louisiana’s timeless symbols to capture the essence of his personal world and to express his spiritual and cultural ideas to Louisiana, the south, and to America.
Rodrigue used the oak tree as the main subject in hundreds of his early 1970s paintings. In 1984 while illustrating a Cajun ghost story book, he reflected on his childhood memories and myths. Inspired by the loup-garou myth, the artist used his own dog Tiffany as the model for the first blue dog for the book (Bayou.Inkwell.1984). The original blue dog was a grayish blue with red eyes. Gradually, the dog’s image became bluer in color with friendlier yellow eyes. In 2000, Rodrigue introduced his eerily prophetic works Hurricanes, followed by a collection entitled Bodies interweaving earlier themes and nudes together. Rodrigue continues to paint his famed blue dog. His post-Katrina blue dogs are more abstract in theme with a brilliant use of color.
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