Rodrigue’s Acadiana: Festival of the Arts Showcased in Lafayette

Legendary Louisiana artist George Rodrigue enjoyed a successful 40-year retrospective exhibition in the spring of 2008 at the New Orleans Museum of Art, where 60,000 visitors appeared, resulting in an attendance record for a contemporary show or living artist. Museums continue to acknowledge Rodrigue’s accomplishments, particularly following the release of the monograph The Art of George Rodrigue (Harry N. Abrams, New York, 2003). In 2009 the University of Louisiana College of the Arts in Lafayette honors Rodrigue during the spring semester with exhibitions at the University Art Museum and the Acadiana Center for the Arts.

Born in New Iberia in the heart of Cajun country, the artist’s 65th birthday was celebrated in March at the opening of the exhibition George Rodrigue: Legends and Lives of Acadiana. The exhibit features more than 60 original oil paintings borrowed from area collectors and displayed in 5,000 square-feet of museum-quality gallery space at the Acadiana Center for the Arts.

The exhibition, which presents the people, places, and lore of Acadiana, including Rodrigue’s first Blue Dog canvas, runs through April 26. This is the first time that Rodrigue’s work is on display on a significant scale in his hometown, Lafayette.

Gala events such as the weeklong Festival of the Arts, an honorary degree to the artist, and the declaration of Rodrigue Day by the city were created as a collaborative effort between ULL College of the Arts, the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, Acadiana Arts Council, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission and Lafayette Consolidated Government.

“The whole thing was started by the dean of the liberal arts school at ULL, Gordon Brooks,” Rodrigue says. He has put together these different events around the university museum. I am teaching some classes at the university, and they are giving me an honorary doctorate at the end of the semester. There are close to 100 paintings on exhibit in two locations. All were painted in Lafayette over the last 40 years.”

From the famous Blue Dog based on the loup-garou legends to the paintings of political figures and of the Cajun people, the artist expresses cultural ideas as they pertain to Louisiana. “It took me five years to paint 15 paintings about the Cajun saga,” he says.

Activities during the festival include Blue Dog: Process of Printing through April 4 at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, featuring a rare look into the process of fine art print making, and the Festival of Arts finale held April 4 at 7 pm at the Iberia Bank building in downtown Lafayette. The gala honoring Rodrigue features food from local restaurants including Blue Dog Café and Jolie’s Louisiana Bistro, entertainment, live and silent auctions featuring the work from College of the Arts students and faculty (tickets are $50; cocktail attire; call 337-482-6224). A cooking demonstration by the Blue Dog Café is held April 11 from 6-8 pm at the Acadiana Center for the Arts during the Second Saturday ArtWalk; admission is free (call 337-233-7060).

An exhibition titled George Rodrigue: Images of Home runs through September 5 at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. It showcases the early Rodrigue works from their collection, supplemented by additions from local collections, with an emphasis on the cultural and historic significance of Rodrigue’s Cajun works.

“There will also be new paintings at my gallery in Lafayette. It is going to be Louisiana Landscapes,” says Rodrigue. “It is a different sort of way to paint them. I wanted to revise the landscape. They are more contemporary, and there are brighter colors. I’m taking the shape of an oak tree itself and creating abstract shapes and colors. It is a revisiting of my beginnings but in a contemporary way.” As with each series over the past 40 years, Rodrigue develops a new mode of expression in a contemporary way, using Louisiana and its timeless symbols as a basis.

Rodrigue has raised nearly $1,500,000 for Gulf Coast disaster relief through his Blue Dog Relief organization. In his continued spirit of giving, he will donate the chrome paper pieces that will be on exhibit at the Sheraton New Orleans to five metropolitan museums around the country at the conclusion of the exhibition titled Reflections of New Orleans, which runs through May 3.

“It goes through Jazzfest,” Rodrigue says. “It is an exhibition of 60 to 80-inch Blue Dog paintings on chrome. They are life size. As you walk into the painting, the chrome reflects your own image, so that you actually see the dog with you life size. That’s something new,” he explains. “The reflective nature of the paper is symbolic of our look back at the recovery of New Orleans over the last three years. It reminds us of our resilience in times of crises.” Rodrigue’s depiction of the Cajuns in his paintings also shows the resilience of a people. Lafayette is proud to honor this insightful, legendary artist whose depictions of Louisiana history and its people are world-renowned. ✦