Jim Roche (artist)
Jim Roche | |
|---|---|
| Education | University of Dallas, Texas |
| Movement | Contemporary Art, Performance |
Jim Roche is an American contemporary artist, known for his "outsider art" chronicling Southern culture in sculptures, graphics, and performance art since the 1960s. His work, which often adopts the folk motifs of contemporary Southern culture, has occasioned descriptions as both "standing for the far right"[1] and ... "confront[ing] hypocrisy and social injustice ... aligned [] with the downtrodden, disenfranchised and working class populations."[2]
Life and Education[edit]
Roche graduated from the University of Dallas in 1970,[2] and taught at Florida State University from 1973 to 2011.[3] Roche was part of the "Oak Cliff Four", a group of artists from Dallas.
He has been an avid motorcycle racer, and has performed small roles in a number of films—for instance, as a televangelist in "The Silence of the Lambs".[4]
He is married to artist Alexa Kleinbard.[5] In 2023, Roche and Alexa Kleinbard were featured in the group exhibition and accompanying catalog Spirit in the Land, organized by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and later at the Pérez Art Museum Miami in 2024.[6][7]
Selected and major works[edit]
- "Potted Mama" - large sculptural works with sexual elements
- "The Bicentennial Welfare Cadillac" (1976) - A decorated 1950 sedan[2]
- "background piece" (1970s); appeared at the Whitney
- "Don’t Tread on Me No More Y’all: Piece" - A large serpent, satire of the flag of Gadsden, Alabama; appeared in the 37th Venice Biennale in 1976[3] (full title: "Two hundred years keeping animals down, done brought Da Snake crawlin back around, Flashin Symbols for One and All; Don’t Tread on Me No More Y’all: Piece")
- "Learning to Count" (1982); spoken word performance on a 2-LP album; Roche speaks in character of people from the South [8]
- Co-Curator, with Alexa Kleinbard, Ogden Museum (2011)[9]
Honors[edit]
Exhibitions[edit]
- Whitney Annual (1960s)
- Venice Biennale in 1976 (invited)
- Paris Biennale in 1977 (invited)
- Selected solo exhibitions
- Dave Hickey's "Clean, Well-Lighted Space" in Dallas (Roche's first solo exhibition)[10]
- Whitney Solo Show (curator, Marcia Tucker)[2]
- Automobile and Culture (1984)
- Made in Florida (1989)
- "Jim Roche: Sense of Place", Gulf Coast Museum of Art, Largo Florida (2003-2004)[11]
- "Jim Roche: Glory Roads", Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts (2010)
- "The Art Guys" (2014)
- "Cultural Mechanic", Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans (2015)[3] (curated by Bradley Sumrall[4])
- "Some Americans Feel Like This", Bale Creek Allen Gallery, Austin, Texas (2016)
Notes[edit]
- ^ Amy Killinger, Cincinnati Magazine, Nov. 1984, p.14.
- ^ a b c d University Galleries, University of Florida.
- ^ a b c Allison Meier, "Five Decades of Subverting the Icons of the South", HyperAllegic, May 27, 2015
- ^ a b Tori Bush, "Jim Roche: Cultural Mechanic at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art", Daily Serving, April 6, 2015.
- ^ Steve Dollar, "Jim Roche Takes Political Messaging to Extremes", Art News, Feb. 14, 2017.
- ^ Schoonmaker, Trevor (2023). Spirit in the land: Exhibition, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 2023. Durham, North Carolina: Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. ISBN 978-0-938989-45-5.
- ^ "Spirit in the Land • Pérez Art Museum Miami". Pérez Art Museum Miami. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Jim Roche: Learning to Count", WFMU, May 10, 2005.
- ^ D. Eric Bookhardt, "Inspired Minds", The Advocate, Sept. 5, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Jim Roche: Glory Roads", Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts
- ^ "Itinerary", Sculpture, v. 22, n.10 (Dec. 2003).
Further reading[edit]
- Roche, Jim; Allen, Terry; Hogan, T. Lynn (2011). Jim Roche: Glory Roads: February 11-March 27, 2011. Florida State University, Museum of Fine Arts. ISBN 978-1889282237.