Roy Ferdinand
(1959-2004) Louisiana
"Simply Iconic"
September 2 - October 3, 2011
Artist Reception: Friday, September 2nd; 8-11 PM
"Known in New Orleans art circles as a sort of 'Goya of the ghetto,' Ferdinand has described his work as rap in pictures, while some critics have placed his utterly honest depictions of inner city decay within the social realist tradition of Courbet." Times-Picayune
"I've been around long enough to know what's good and what's not good, and I instantly knew that Roy was good," says Willie Birch, a nationally prominent African-American artist who nominated Ferdinand for inclusion in the 2001 New Orleans Triennial. "To me, he was fearless, and that was his strength. Roy will go down as one of the more significant artists to come out of New Orleans. His work is set in a timeframe and will grow in strength as the years go by."
Roy Ferdinand painted the tough New Orleans neighborhoods where he shared his life on the streets with drug dealers and junkies, pimps and whores. His uncompromisingly realistic style can be unsettling in its brutal and sexually explicit depictions of an inner-city gangsta lifestyle. The African-American artist was a self-proclaimed urban warrior. Ferdinand's uncompromising artwork has been included in numerous important exhibitions and is in the permanent collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art, the African American Museum in Dallas and the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Ferdinand died from cancer at the age of 45, leaving a rich and formidable documentary legacy.
Contact Billy Shire or Gallery Director Matt Kennedy for availability and purchase info: (323) 547-3227
