NEW ORLEANS, LA.- With support from Regions Bank, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art once again produced the exhibition, “Louisiana Contemporary,” opening on White Linen Night, on display until September 28, 2014. The annual, state-wide, juried exhibition was established in 2012 to promote contemporary art practices in the state of Louisiana, to provide exhibition space for the exposition of contemporary art, and to engage an audience that recognizes the vibrant visual culture of Louisiana and the role of New Orleans as a rising, international art center.

Artists included in the exhibition are Artemis Antippas, David Armentor, Aron Belka, Martin Benson, Jenna Bonistall, Eliot Brown, Marcus Brown, Marianne Desmarais, Joshua Duncan, James Flynn, Laura Gipson, Jacqueline Groves, Shawn Hall, Ronna Harris, L. Kasimu Harris, Stephan Hoffpauir, Ann Hornback, Susan Ireland, Gene Koss, Bonnie Maygarden, Meghan Methe, Ti-Rock Moore, Keith Perelli, Olesya Robinson, Bradley Sabin, Loren Schwerd, Cynthia Scott, Sara Wiseman, all of New Orleans, Jeremiah Ariaz, Scott Finch and James Osborne of Baton Rouge, Maggie McConnell and Dale Newkirk of Covington, Christopher Bunch, Kim Pourciau of Harvey, Ariel Mazariegos of Metairie, Clifford Tresner of Monroe, Yankowski of Natchitoches, Dean Dablow of Ruston, and Blake Boyd of Slidell.

The juror for this installation of “Louisiana Contemporary” is Jonathan Binstock, Senior Vice President and specialist in Modern and Contemporary art for Citi Private Bank Art Advisory & Finance, and former Curator of Contemporary Art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., who has just been named Director of the Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester.

Of “Louisiana Contemporary,” Binstock remarks, "One of the great pleasures of being a curator and advisor is traveling to cities in the U.S. and abroad and learning about what artists are thinking and making in places far from one's regular stomping grounds. The world may be shrinking, but geography still accounts for a lot in terms of difference, variety, and the unfamiliar in the world of art. I am eager and excited to survey the Louisiana scene and to discover what some of the best artists in the region are creating.”

“It’s thrilling to see how the curatorial vision of the varied exhibition jurors has helped shape this snapshot of contemporary art in Louisiana,” said William Andrews, Director of the Ogden Museum. “We began this exhibition series to give presence to a specific community of artists who have chosen to live and work in the South, which has been dramatically different with each installation.”

The 2013 Juror for Louisiana Contemporary was Franklin Sirmans, The Terri and Michael Smooke Department Head and Curator of Contemporary Art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Artistic Director for “Prospect.3: Notes for Now.” The 2012 Juror was Rene Barrilleaux, Chief Curator at McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas.

“Kohlmeyer Circle Presents: Shawn Hall's Pastoral Universe”
August 2 - November 2, 2014
Also on view is the exhibition, “Kohlmeyer Circle Presents: Shawn Hall's Pastoral Universe.”

Describing the work, Chief Curator Bradley Sumrall says, “This immersive installation consists of an artistic environment in which the viewer is placed within the piece looking out into projected representations of natural forms like leaves and branches, which evoke images of outer space: planets, stars and moving, orbital forms. The piece is meant to equate the microcosm of all living ecology and equate it to a vast reference of the universe, cellular activity, and what Shawn refers to as ‘particle space’, which relates to decorative, ‘charged’ space in Medieval and Renaissance painting.”

The Kohlmeyer Circle presents an exhibition each year featuring new ideas in Southern Art. Past exhibitions include After the Forest by Craig Damrauer (2013), A Technological Terrarium curated by Myrtle Von Damitz (2011), Flight Lab by Jenny K. Hager (2010), and Electro-Sonic Painting by Marcus Brown and Nathan Weidenhaft (2009).

“Rolland Golden: An Alternate Vision”
August 2, 2014 - September 21, 2014
Rolland Golden is an accomplished artist whose work is deeply rooted in the landscapes and culture of the American South, and is focused on bringing deeper significance to the mundane through juxtaposition of objects or unique perspectives. His solo exhibition “Rolland Golden: An Alternate Vision” opened on White Linen Night and examines a five-decade artistic career. This exhibition includes over 70 oil paintings, watercolors and drawings. These works were chosen to give the viewer a new look at Golden’s work through the lens of Magical Realism.

Born in 1931 in New Orleans, LA, Golden moved throughout his childhood between different places in the Deep South. New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta, in particular, had a great influence on the development of his visual aesthetic.

Solo exhibitions of his work have toured both the former Soviet Union (in 1976 and 1977, with shows in Moscow, Kiev, Leningrad and Odessa) and France (1993 - 1995). His work is included in private, corporate and public collections worldwide, most notably the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Historic New Orleans Collection, Mississippi Museum of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

Guest curators Drs. Andrew and Hathia Hayes contributed significantly to the exhibition, as did noted art historian and author Anthony Jansen.

The exhibition coincides with the release of Golden’s memoirs “Rolland Golden, Life, Love and Art in the French Quarter” - published by the University Press of Mississippi and released August 2, 2014 at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

“One Place: Paul Kwilecki and Four Decades of Photographs from Decatur County, Georgia”
July 24, 2014 - September 21, 2014
The stunning discovery of a unique photographic narrative is on display in “One Place: Paul Kwilecki and Four Decades of Photographs from Decatur County, Georgia.”

Ogden Museum Curator of Photography Richard McCabe explains, “Photographer Paul Kwilecki owned and operated a hardware store in Bainbridge, GA, and spent over 40 years photographing his native Decatur County, GA. From the 1960s - 2000s, Kwilecki made thousands of black & white photographs that captured the passage of time and the changes that took place in this southwest corner of Georgia. ‘One Place’ is an intimate and focused portrait of a single place that resonates with a universal vision of humanity.”

The exhibition travels to the Ogden Museum from Duke University Center for Documentary Studies in North Carolina.

“The New Orleans Chapter of the Links, HBCU Art Showcase”
Saturday, August 2 – September 28, 2014
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art Education Department is presenting a curated exhibition of works from students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Louisiana, including Xavier University of Louisiana; Dillard University; Southern University, New Orleans; Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (Baton Rouge); Southern University, Shreveport; and Grambling State University.