paul dean: fractured fortunes

a virtual reception will be held via our facebook and instagram pages on december 2nd. Follow us at BRGallery for updates and images!

the in-person FIRST WEDNESDAY OPENING RECEPTION & artICULATE aRTIST tALK have been cancelled for this exhibition due to risks associated with the covid-19 pandemic. the gallery will be open during regular business hours (Tu - Su, 12pm - 6pm) for individuals or groups under 25 people. social distancing and masks are required.

Paul Dean was born in upstate New York, lived life as a teenager and a young adult in Raleigh, North Carolina, and has now settled himself in Baton Rouge. A Professor at Louisiana State University’s Art Department for nearly three decades, he recently retired to pursue his art. His work has been exhibited at the Slidell Cultural Center, the LSU Union Art Gallery, The Southwest Missouri State University Student Exhibition Center, the University of Florida and the Margaret Harwell Art Museum in Poplar Bluff Missouri.

“What was normal? What is the new normal? What does new even mean any more?

Where are we to turn when the wisdom of the ages is in doubt?

Inspired by Chinese Fortune cookies and the cut-up experiments of William Burroughs and Brion Gysin, I have cut and rearranged fortune cookie fortunes looking for new possibilities and new wisdom from the old.

To make the ephemeral solid, I grafted these with repurposed and repainted thrift store shelf craft to make contemplative objects. What do they mean? That’s up to you, but as I worked I felt some cockeyed hope for the future.” - Dean

This exhibition is presented alongside the latest works from Leslie Friedman, Kelly A Mueller & Nonney Oddlokken. All works from these artists are on view, free of charge, during normal gallery hours (12 - 6 p.m., Tue - Sun) from December 1 through December 23, 2020.