Herbert Singleton: Inside Out/Outside In

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Ogden Museum of Southern Art, in association with Prospect.3 New Orleans, presents Herbert Singleton: Inside Out/Outside In which celebrates the impassioned artworks of the late Herbert Singleton (1947-2007). Drawing upon the Ogden Museum’s own collection in addition to loans from the artist’s most important collector Gordon W. Bailey, this selection of works documents Singleton’s contribution to Southern contemporary art practices. His brightly painted bas-reliefs defy progressive linear narratives of the past, which often gloss over the magnitude of racial discrimination in the United States. A lifelong resident of Algiers, the Fifteenth Ward of New Orleans, and a carpenter by trade, Singleton made art empowered by his life experience, which included nearly 14 years of incarceration in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Unlike the scenes of spiritual uplift rendered by other self-taught carvers, racial strife and urban crime are abundant in Singleton’s unflinching works. His self-taught style demonstrates a strong use of found materials and a commitment to address the deeply entrenched socio-economic realities of the South. His life and art were not separate endeavors and the artist explicitly indicated that the act of creating helped him to confront the hardships in his life. According to Bailey, “Singleton railed against hypocrisy on both sides of the racial divide.”