June Press Release

CONTACT: Jason Andreasen, Special Events Coordinator 225.383.1470

Baton Rouge Gallery – center for contemporary art

1442 City Park Avenue

Baton Rouge, LA 70808

www.batonrougegallery.org

BRG Showcases Barbier, Roth and Schmidt in June

BATON ROUGE, LA – During the month of June, Baton Rouge Gallery will fill its walls with some of the most distinct artistic minds in the city: Charles Barbier, Hunter Roth and Steve Schmidt. The blending of styles and range of techniques employed makes the June exhibit one not to be missed.

Charles Barbier, received his M.F.A. from Louisiana State University (1989) and is one of the Baton Rouge area’s most recognizable artists. Before receiving instruction, Barbier was a self-taught artist for 15 years. He cites his experience of being a veteran of the Vietnam War (1968 & 1969) as a strengthening factor in his development as an artist. In tackling controversial subjects and themes that often reflect a local context, Barbier employs complex compositions with meanings that are open to the interpretation of the viewer.

Current Work and Collaborations, Barbier’s upcoming exhibit, shows his eye for the controversial as he turns towards the subject of female power. Many of the works in this latest figurative collection feature imagery placing females in a seedy environment; making it all the more striking to the audience. Combining humor and honesty, Barbier’s work is both aesthetically pleasing and psychologically jarring.

Baton Rouge Gallery is also proud to once again showcase artist member Hunter Roth. The LSU alumnus earned his B.F.A. in 2000 with a concentration in sculpture. Since then, he has become one of the area’s most popular artists. Roth has served as the Design Shop Manager at LSU’s College of Art and Design since 2000 and has been an adjunct professor for the Department of Interior Design since 2003.

His latest exhibit, Painted Wood Sculptures & Collaborative Paintings, will help the community understand the full breadth of Roth’s artistic talents. His interactive sculptures, while taking the form of toys or games, mock death and attract the eye with a colorful palette. The paintings that have resulted from recent collaborations with Charles Barbier are a take on Mexican/American cult movie posters, pinups and the unreal.

Steve Schmidt, an Artist Member at Baton Rouge Gallery since 1992, has been working with paints and brushes for 45 years, with 38 of those spent specifically focusing on abstract work. The LSU graduate currently teaches at Baton Rouge Community College.

Schmidt’s latest collection, Structures, evokes the indefinable instead of defining the obvious. Schmidt’s work, by offering the viewer intuitive meaning from shared experiences, establishes a communion which is felt rather than reasoned. His abstract work calls on the ineffability of nature as a driving force behind his latest efforts.

The exhibition will run from June 4 to June 26, 2008. An opening reception will be held from 7 – 9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 4, to celebrate all three of these remarkable artists. As always, this reception is free and open to the public.

BRG’s Movies & Music on the Lawn Welcomes Alfred Hitchcock

Baton Rouge Gallery’s annual summer series, Movies & Music on the Lawn is celebrating the achievements and contributions made to American cinema by two of its biggest names: Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock. While both men were born in England, their far-reaching influence on the silver screen emanated from the works they produced while living within this country’s borders.

On the last Saturday of each month through October, Baton Rouge Gallery center for contemporary art will showcase a different silent film from one of these two film visionaries. On Saturday, June 28, Movies & Music on the Lawn: Giants of American Cinema will feature Alfred Hitchcock’s “Easy Virtue.”

Although Hitchcock is rightfully known across the globe as a master of suspense, his repertoire was far more expansive. Hitchcock’s 1928 drama, “Easy Virtue,” centers around a woman of questionable reputation named Larita Filton. Following a scandal-ridden divorce, Filton travels to France where she falls in love with John Whittaker. Upon marrying him, Filton is introduced to Whittaker’s well-to-do parents who find out about a past she’d rather they didn’t know about.

As always with Movies & Music on the Lawn, the soundtrack will be provided as live accompaniment along with the film. Baton Rouge Gallery is proud to have local band EPIC providing the musical score for all three Hitchcock films being shown this summer. The quartet’s technically intricate progressive rock promises to add another dimension to Hitchcock’s intense style of filmmaking.

Admission to all Movies & Music on the Lawn events is free for BRG members and $5.00 for non members. Bring a picnic or enjoy some complimentary old-fashioned popcorn. The movie starts up at 8 p.m. or at sunset, whichever comes first. In the event of rain, the event will be held inside the gallery.

NY Novelist to Read during a Special Sundays@4 in June

Raised in South Louisiana, DeLaune Michel has turned her professional focus from the stage to the pages of her critically-acclaimed novels. With her poetic prose and gift for storytelling, Michel’s latest work, The Safety of Secrets, provides an evocatively nostalgic look at the Deep South, insights into the bonds of friendship and the costs of keeping and revealing secrets. The novel, set in Lake Charles, Louisiana, follows two girls who are the products of abusive and neglectful mothers. Their friendship is strengthened by their troubles at home, leading to a sister-like relationship. The book is simultaneously poignant and humorous, exploring what happens when your most treasured friendship suddenly seems broken beyond repair.

As Michel herself puts it, “There is such stark and deep knowledge of one another in an ages old friendship that I wanted to explore how secrets can be used as a mask to hide behind and protect ourselves, or to be the person that we think our best friend needs, or even to try not to be that person anymore, especially when we still are.”

A resident of Westchester County, NY, Michel will be taking a break from working on her third novel to stop into Baton Rouge Gallery’s Sundays@4 series on June 8. Having performed nonfiction work on NPR and having a strong background in acting, her reading from The Safety of Secrets promises to be an entertaining one. The reading begins at 4 p.m. and as always is free and open to the public.

This program is supported in part by funds from the LOUISIANA STATE ARTS COUNCIL and the LOUISIANA DIVISION OF THE ARTS, and by the ARTS COUNCIL OF GREATER BATON ROUGE through the DECENTRALIZED ARTS FUNDING PROGRAM. The Gallery also gets support from the COMMUNITY FUND FOR THE ARTS, community memberships and the late Mrs. Paula Manship. Baton Rouge Gallery is a Special Facility of BREC.

The mission of the Baton Rouge Gallery - center for contemporary art, as adopted by its board of directors in May, 1999, is to provide a forum for the arts, especially for professional visual artists to exhibit their art. The Gallery places emphasis on education and enrichment, including multi-disciplinary arts programs.

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