Governor's Gallery

ROOTS & TIES
Works From The Hamilton Press

March 17 thru May 17, 2008

Fifty years ago, a group of Oklahoma artists headed west on Route 66 to the City of Angels to make their mark on the art world. Their generation had survived the carnage of the Great Depression and World War II.

Roots and Ties features new and past original prints, paintings, and photographs of six artists who have been making art for more than 30 years. Their works are now featured in public and private collections around the world and in international exhibitions and have brought notoriety and recognition to the state.

Five of the artists whose work is included in the exhibit—Robert Bonaparte, Joe Goode, Jerry McMillan, Ed Ruscha, and Mason Williams—currently reside on the West coast. In addition, the work of the late Lee Mullican, a Chickasha native who lived in Los Angeles for much of his life, is also included in the exhibit.

The art of Roots and Ties represents the major movements of contemporary art, with conceptual art, pop art and abstraction interpreted in the works. Lingering in these diverse styles is the influence of Oklahoma, whether it’s the image of a twister in a Goode lithograph, the linear representation of a gas station in a serigraph by Ruscha and Williams, or the subtle Native American influences in a Mullican painting.

The works are united by their use of new approaches to understanding ordinary or traditional themes. Goode, for example, is known for his adaptations of household objects that evoke his upbringing in Oklahoma. “Joe would laugh at the nobleness of a fried-egg sandwich, or even a telephone, and then, sometime in the future, would find himself painting pictures of these very things,” said childhood friend Ruscha. “Even the abstract paintings contain a nagging tie to his past.”

The Oklahoma Arts Council selected pieces from among a historical collection of art gathered by Oklahoma City based Untitled [ArtSpace] which recognized the creativity and achievements of Oklahoma artists who grew up in the state and found their niche in another part of the U.S. The original lithographs and etchings by Bonaparte, Goode, McMillan, Mullican, Ruscha and Williams are provided by Cirrus Gallery in Los Angeles and Hamilton Press in Venice, CA. Roots and Ties was made possible in part by support from the Oklahoma Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Oklahoma Centennial Commission and Joanna Champlin.

Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council. For more information contact Scott Cowan at 405.521.2931 or scott@arts.ok.gov

The Governor's Gallery is located on the 2nd floor of the State Capitol outside the Blue Room and is open Monday through Friday from 8:30-5:00.

Past Governor's Gallery Exhibits