ChromeSun - The Artwork of Herb Roe
ARTIST STATEMENT
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My first real attempt at an original body of work was a collection of paintings and drawings in the mid 1990s. It was my first foray into "painting what I knew", and focused on my friends, family, and romantic partners going about our pursuits as late teens to early 20 something blue collar kids in decaying rust belt Appalachia. This eventually evolved into a series of intimate allegorical portrait costume dramas mismatching influences from sources as varied as baroque art, Greco Roman mythology, and Elizabethan tragedies. Which in turn led into a decade exploring the costuming and rituals of the 'courir de mardi gras' events in southern Louisiana.
For the last three years I've been working on a synthesis of these threads into works exploring my childhood home and roots in Appalachian eastern Kentucky and southern Ohio and my adulthood traveling and working in the southern US, focusing on the swamps and prairies of my adopted home in south Louisiana. While technically a new body of work, in reality this is an extension of these previous bodies of work, and an elaboration of themes and subjects that I have explored since early in my career.
Unlike my previous work with the traditions of my adopted Acadiana home, these are more allegorical, metaphorical, and personal in nature. My work starts with ideas and images that strike me, an evolving set of personal symbols that I use as shorthand for universal concepts about the human condition. It work explores themes as diverse as contemporary politics and social issues, specifically opiate addiction, suicide, racism, and environmental degradation filtered through the lens of memories from childhood, folk lore, pop songs, snippets of stoic philosophy, and anything else that happens to bubble up through my subconscious.
BIO
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Herb Roe was born and spent his childhood in the Appalachian regions of Southern Ohio and Northeastern Kentucky. In 1992 he received a scholarship to the Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio and attended his freshman year there. In the summer of 1993 he met the Louisiana mural artist Robert Dafford. He subsequently apprenticed to and worked for Dafford for 15 years on mural projects throughout the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys. As a Dafford Muralist, Roe specialized in large scale, long term historical mural projects, often connected with local Chambers of Commerce, Tourism Bureaus and Downtown Development Agencies. Many of these projects took between 5 and 10 years to complete, and ranged from 1 to 50 murals in each town. In 2007 Roe began to pursue a career as a fine artist, specializing in oil paintings depicting the history and culture of his adopted home in South Louisianas Acadiana region. His most recent series of works explores his childhood home in Appalachian eastern Kentucky and southern Ohio and adulthood traveling and working in the southern US.
EDUCATION
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1992-1993 Studied at Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH
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1993-2007 15 year apprenticeship with mural painter Robert Dafford
Interviews and Press
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"Fire and Flood" virtual tour, Baton Rouge Gallery, July , 2024
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"Cajun culture became cool in Lafayette in the '80s. Robert Dafford's artwork helped with that.", Stephen Marcantel, The Acadiana Advocate, April 1, 2023
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"Artcadiana", Johanna Divine, It's Acadiana: Out to Lunch, March 15, 2023
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"Realism and Metaphor", Patrice Doucet, The Daily Iberian, February 7, 2023
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"Baton Rouge Gallery features work by Friedman, Mueller, Oddlokken and Roe in October", The Advocate, October 7, 2022
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"Review: New Orleans artists present a celebration of diversity and place", Saskia Ozols, Uptown Messenger, April 15, 2022
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"Danse de Mardi Gras", John R. Kemp, Acadiana Profile, February 1, 2022
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Herb Roe and Jacob Rakovan : As featured in ARS MEMORIA, Procession Magazine, Issue 4, September 2021
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Dafford Murals Documentary on Kentucky Life, KET.org, August 2020
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Acadian Culture Day Artist Interview, Vermilionville Historic Village, August 2020
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A ‘Renegade’ art exhibit pops up on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard Friday", Doug MacCash, The Times-Picayune, March 2, 2020
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"Herb Roe doesn't just paint Mardi Gras scenes, he lives them", Patricia Gannon, The Acadiana Advocate, February 17, 2019
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"Artist Spotlight: Herb Roe", Designing Women of Acadiana, Lafayette Travel, March 28, 2019
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"Mythologies Louisianaises : Le fete de quemande", an essay on the creation of a painting for a group show scheduled for New Orleans White Linen Night 2018. Arthur Roger Gallery, curated by Jonathan Mayers.
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"Born to Run: Herb Roe at Brand New Orleans Art Gallery", Nora Kovacs, Pelican Bomb, July 2, 2018.
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"Cultural Inspiration : Mardi Gras on the Cajun prairie and in the New Orleans streets of Treme", John R. Kemp, Louisiana Life Magazine, January 2018.
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"Masks And Mayhem... And Culture ", Tony Leggio, NOLA on review, September 30, 2017.
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"Kincaid Mounds mural gets historical update", Leah Shields, WPSD, July 10, 2017.
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"Herb Roe", ARTISTADAY, March 2017
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"Herb Roe Depicts Strange, Real-Life Celebrations in Oil Paintings", Andy Smith, HI-Fructose Magazine, March 22, 2017
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"Juried art exhibit at the Healthcare Gallery showcases a Southern take on futurism", Benjamin Leger, 225 Magazine, Baton Rouge, LA, March 2017
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"Season 4 - Episode 416", ART Rocks!, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, February 10, 2017
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"Perspectives: Courir de Mardi Gras", James Fox-Smith, Country Roads Magazine, January 23, 2017
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"Paint & Ink Inc.", Out to Lunch, KRVS, September 14, 2016
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"The Decadent Revelry of Cajun Mardi Gras", Sarah Baird, GQ Magazine, February 17, 2016
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"Ca c'est bon, Herb!", Rhonda Gleason Breaux, The IND, January 7, 2016
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"No dead Artists 2015 at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery", D. E. Bookhardt, New Orleans Art Insider, September 6, 2015
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"Beyond these Walls", documentary film, Lorentz Films, Portsmouth, Ohio, 2015
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"Holding back the river", Lee Ward, The Daily Independent, Ashland, KY March 30, 2015
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"Art Now and Then : Ohio Artists", Jim Lane, Art Now and Then, November 9, 2014
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"Where You Stay At? curated by Jonathan Mayers", LSU School of Art, October 2014
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"What's Going On.....with Herb Roe", video interview with Dominick Cross, The Advertiser, October 2014
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"Of Oak Trees and Dogs", David Cheramie, Acadiana Profile, June-July 2014
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"Roe on 'the Run'", The IND Monthly, Lafayette, LA, February 3, 2014.
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"On the Cover - February 2014", Country Roads Magazine, Baton Rouge, La February 1, 2014.
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"Artist runs home for softball mural", The Portsmouth Daily Times, Portsmouth, OH, June 26, 2013.
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"Mardi Garage: Herb Roe, Festival International de Louisiane and a Prime Location", Reggie Rodrigue, Louisianaesthetic, April 21, 2013
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"Mardi Gras exhibit in Arnaudville", The Daily World, February 1, 2013.
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"Artist paints mural at PHS Athletic Complex", The Portsmouth Daily Times, July 19, 2012.
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Podcast of an interview from KRVS where I discuss my art and career. "Interview with Herb Roe on The Exchange with Cheryl Castille". Interview was live on February 2, 2012.
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"Brush Strokes : How Herb Roe painted himself from Appalachia to the Gulf ", Anna Purdy, The Independent Weekly, Lafayette, LA December 28, 2011.
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"Off the Beaten Path at the Warehouse on Garfield", Reggie Rodrigue, Louisianaesthetic, November 28, 2011
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"Up-and-Coming artist you'd invest in now : Herb Roe", from the "Cool Town" article list of things which makes Lafayette a great place to live, the Independent Weekly, Lafayette, LA March 23, 2011.
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"Boy Scouts Celebrate 100 Years with Muralist Herb Roe", Mary Thorsby, iListPaducah, January 28, 2011
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"Top 5 with Lafayette Artist Herb Roe", the Independent Weekly, Lafayette, LA February 2, 2010.
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"Small Town's story turns drab walls into art", Paducah Arts Newsletter, October 2009.
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"A Pictures Worth", The Portsmouth Daily Times, June 24, 2009
Exhibits
Solo
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2024 Fire and Flood, Baton Rouge Gallery, July , 2024
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2022 Finite Creatures, Baton Rouge Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA
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2018 All That I Wanted: New Paintings by Herb Roe, BRAND NOLA Art Gallery, New Orleans, LA
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2017 Jour des Fantomes - Masks and Mayhem: New Paintings by Herb Roe, Mardi Gras Museum of Costumes and Culture, New Orleans, LA
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2016 Herb Roe : Ca c'est bon : Paintings of Courirs, Boucheries, & Festivals in Acadiana, BRAND NOLA Art Gallery, New Orleans, LA
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2016 Ca c'est bon : Paintings of Courirs, Boucheries, & Festivals in Acadiana, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA (curated by Mary Beyt and Brian Guidry)
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2014 Le Courir - Explorations of community and culture in a world turned upside down, National Park Service Jean Lafitte Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, Eunice, LA
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2013 Solo Exhibition, Maiden Alley Cinema Gallery, Paducah, KY
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2013 Masks and Mayhem II, Steeple Vue Gallery, NUNU's Arts and Culture Collective, Arnaudville, LA
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2012 Masks and Mayhem - The Courir de Mardi Gras art of Herb Roe, St. Landry Parish Visitor Information Center, Opelousas, LA
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2009 Solo Exhibition, A. I. R. Studio, Paducah, KY
Group
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2024 Renegade Artists Group Show, LeMieux Gallery, New Orleans, LA
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2023 Mitoloji Latannyèr/Mythologies Louisianaises, Capital Park Museum, Baton Rouge, LA (curated by Jonathan “radbwa faroush” Mayers)
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2023 Surreal Salon, Baton Rouge Gallery (curated by Marco Mazzoni)
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2022 Equinox by Renegade Artists Collective, Studio Waveland + Gallery, Waveland, MS
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2020 Eye of the Beholder, Lafayette Art Association, Lafayette, LA, 2 D Art Award of Merit, Best in Show Award
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2020 Southern Contemporary, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA (curated by René Morales, chief curator, Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL)
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2020 Renegade Artists Collective Inaugural Show, The Building, New Orleans, LA
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2018 FEAST, Barristers Gallery, New Orleans, LA (curated by Jillian Gibson)
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2018 Mythologies Louisianaises, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA (curated by Jonathan Mayers)
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2018 Capitol City Contemporary 4 : Food, Glorious Food, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Baton Rouge, LA (curated by Rodneyna Hart)
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2018 Group Show of LA Artists, The Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge, LA (curated by Carolyn Goodman)
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2017 Southern Contemporary, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA (curated by Shantrelle P. Lewis)
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2017 Art Melt 2017, Capital Park Museum, Baton Rouge, LA (curated by Courtney Taylor, LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, LA, Mark A. Tullos, Jr., Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience, Meridian, MS, and Jennifer Scanlan, Oklahoma Contemporary, Oklahoma City, OK)
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2017 Southern Futurism, The Healthcare Gallery & Wellness Spa, Baton Rouge, LA, (curated by Rodneyna Hart)
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2015 46th annual River Road Show, Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge, LA, (curated by Diantha York-Ripley)
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2015 C'est Une Valse, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA (curated by Mary Beyt and Brian Guidry)
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2015 19th Annual No Dead Artists, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA (curated by Max Fishko, director, Art Market Productions, New York, NY, Valerie Cassell Oliver, senior curator, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX and David Workman, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA)
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2015 Group Exhibition, Ariodante Contemporary, New Orleans, LA
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2015 5th Annual Brush with Burden Exhibition, LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden, Baton Rouge, LA (curated by Phil Sandusky)
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2015 The Big Easel Art Fair Preview Show, Lounge Gallery, Lafayette, LA, Best Oil Painting award (curated by Jeffery McCullough)
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2014 45th annual River Road Show, Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge, LA, (curated by Morten E. Solberg)
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2014 Where You Stay At? P3+ exhibit, Ten Gallery + Collective, New Orleans, LA (curated by Jonathan Mayers)
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2014 Art Melt 2014, Capital Park Museum, Baton Rouge, LA ( curated by Katie Pfohl, LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, LA, Ben Thompson, Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL, and Eric Robert Dallimore, Leon Gallery, Denver, CO)
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2014 The Summer Show, 49th National Juried Artists Exhibition, St. Tammany Art Association, Covington, LA, (curated by Beth Batton, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS)
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2014 Covering Country Roads, East Baton Rouge Public Library, Baton Rouge, LA, (curated by James Fox-Smith, publisher Country Roads Magazine, Baton Rouge, LA)
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2014 LaGrange National XXVIII Exhibition, LaGrange Art Museum, LaGrange, GA (curated by Annette Cone-Skelton, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia)
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2013 Art with a Bayou View, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, LA, Best in Show award (curated by Dr. Edwin Pinkston)
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2013 Art Melt 2013, Capital Park Museum, Baton Rouge, LA, Honorable mention from juror Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker (curated by Jordana Pomeroy, LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, LA, Susan Edwards, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN, and Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA)
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2013 Rock the Flock, Gallery 549, Lafayette, LA (curated by Donald LeBlanc)
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2012 Ex Arte Equinas VI, Art Horse Magazine. Honorable mention painting category (curated by Patricia Powers)
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2012 43rd annual River Road Show, Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge, LA, Honorable mention (curated by Sam Corso)
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2012 Masquerade, ARC Gallery, San Francisco, CA, (curated by Jack Fischer, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, Ca)
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2008 Southern Open, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA, (curated by Peter Frank, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA)
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2002 Two-Person Exhibition, Cite des Artes, Lafayette, LA (with painter Wayne Ditch)
Collections
Public collections
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Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Art Collection at the George & Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center 1225 N. Rampart Street, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Private collections
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Works held in private collections throughout the United States.