Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Paintings by a Yale-educated artist now living in New Haven, Conn., are on exhibit at Mississippi State through March 31.
Titled "Us and Them: Recent Paintings by Rodger Roundy," the collection featured in the McComas Hall art gallery includes a series of sepia-toned paintings. Also, 10 large acrylics dealing with issues of race, identity, class, and culture were created especially for the university show.
Located on the ground floor of McComas Hall, the gallery is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Mondays-Fridays, and 1-4 p.m. Sundays. (It is closed during the March 11-19 spring break.)
During a campus visit next week [the 20th-24th], Roundy will lead a series of public programs about his work. A 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday [the 23rd] reception in the gallery, also open to the public, will honor his creative achievements.
Roundy's paintings have been featured in solo exhibitions throughout the U.S. and in Europe. He has described the acrylics as "allegorical paintings" exploring themes related to race and class.
"I chose red and white to differentiate between the two tribes who inhabit these walled environments, and deliberately removed any other cultural indicators such as costume, jewelry or hair," he said. "Although I was certainly thinking of specific historical instances of apartheid, of physical and metaphorical wall-building, I also wanted to use colors and situations that could stand in for the multiple ways that those in power continue to exploit perceived differences."
Gallery director Bill Andrews said Roundy has become well-known for his extremely fine lines and areas of detail. "The content of the images is powerful, to be sure, but at the same time we can't overlook their technical mastery," he said.
For more information, telephone the art department at 662-325-2970 or visit www.caad.msstate.edu/art