Cultural Heroes Exhibit

Cultural Heroes is a concept conceived by Alan LeQuire inspired by one of his favorite museums, the Cluny Museum in Paris. The museum displays the heads of the Kings of France, which were broken off the facade of Notre Dame during the French Revolution and rediscovered during the 1970s. These larger-than-life stone heads are displayed in such an ethereal setting that they continued to affect Alan LeQuire, even years after he first encountered them. Cultural Heroes features the first six icons of an ongoing series of artists who were key role players for Civil Rights, putting their careers on the line. Sculpted in a moment of performance, these colossal portrait heads also represent various ways of handling clay, always with the intent to make the material and its treatment at least as important as the subject matter. The artist's six role models currently represented in the sculptures are Marian Anderson, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Lead Belly, Paul Robeson, and Woody Guthrie.
Alan LeQuire strives to create a larger-than-life portrait that has the breath of life of the individual. Sculpting his personal heroes, LeQuire understands and communicates their artistic ecstasy. The result is a miraculous object that possesses the living presence of a person and gives it permanence. Insight into a personality can be found through movement sensed through posture and passion projected through expression. LeQuire sculpts in clay, and there is always the opportunity to explore texture and new ways of handling the material. For the sculptor, the manipulation of the clay is his signature.
The Cultural Heroes series showcases Alan LeQuire's passion for working with clay and his impulse to infuse the clay with the living presence of a person. "With the Cultural Heroes series, I wanted to create larger-than-life portrait heads that would affect the viewer with their beauty and presence," states Sculptor Alan LeQuire. "I am interested in real people whose art succeeded despite obstacles. This early 20th Century group represents the great contributions of the artists who were the grandparents of the Civil Rights movement."

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• Cultural Heroes Exhibit
• alan lequire
• gallery
• andrew rozario
• marian anderson
• paul robeson
• woody guthrie
• billie holiday
• leadbelly
• bessie smith