Rodrigue Gallery: The Unveiling

Rodrigue Gallery: The Unveiling
George Rodrigue Blue Dog
Original Silkscreen by George Rodrigue
2010
Estate Completed Edition of 500
Approximate size, 40 x 26 inches
(#s 190-500 Estate stamped, excl. #407)

$1,200.00

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Description

In 2009, George Rodrigue purchased a centuries-old brick building on Royal Street in New Orleans and set out to transform the space into his ideal gallery. Although Rodrigue maintained a gallery presence on Royal Street starting in 1989, this building purchase marked the first time the artist would fully own his gallery space. Rodrigue spent months remodeling the space, ensuring that every detail met his exact specifications. When the gallery opened in 2010, the artist released the silkscreen print, Rodrigue Gallery: The Unveiling, to celebrate the realization of a career-long dream.
Rodrigue Gallery: The Unveiling takes the gallery space as its subject matter. The print features at its center a blue dog draped in a red cover-up. The partially covered blue dog is a visual motif Rodrigue used in earlier prints and paintings with titles such as Hiding From The Blues and My Security Blanket. Though in this context, viewers might imagine the cover-up in the process of being removed and the blue dog being unveiled.

Rodrigue included several real-life elements in this silkscreen print. The rug the blue dog stands on is a digitally modified depiction of an actual rug that adorned Rodrigue’s studio floor. To achieve a true likeness of the rug in the print, the artist photographed his rug and then adjusted the image​ on a computer until it fit harmoniously into this gallery scene.​ 

Additionally, the print’s  background includes depictions of two real paintings hanging on the gallery walls. The painting featuring the bust of the blue dog is from 2008 and titled Strong Family Tree, and the painting showing the full-body blue dog in a landscape setting is from 2009 and titled A Beautiful Place. The inclusion of these elements in this silkscreen print demonstrates the innovative ways Rodrigue used computer and digital technology in his work.

Ultimately, Rodrigue Gallery: The Unveiling is a reflective print. It acknowledges a specific moment in Rodrigue’s career but also speaks to the years of relentless hard work it took for the artist to accomplish a long-held goal. Originally released as a signed silkscreen edition, Rodrigue Gallery: The Unveiling has now been estate-stamped to complete the unsigned portion of the edition, offering collectors a way to reconnect with this trajectory-altering moment in Rodrigue’s artistic legacy.

*Price and availability subject to change without notice, sold unframed.

All prints sold directly by the Rodrigue Estate are also accompanied with a certificate of authenticity indicating the number of the print purchased from the estate.

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