Inside Art with Michael Rose - Celebrating 25 Years of Art by Nixon Leger at URI

Inside Art with Michael Rose - Celebrating 25 Years of Art by Nixon Leger at URI

Nixon Leger is an artist with a rich backstory. Born in Haiti, Leger found a love for art at an early age and drew inspiration from the world around him. Emigrating to the United States in 2008, Leger studied at the University of Rhode Island, earning his second degree. On view through February 24 at URI’s Feinstein Campus in downtown Providence, two floors of exhibition space feature dozens of Leger’s paintings. The show is a testament to Leger’s unique story and his vivid imagination. It is also a celebration of his connection to URI and to the Ocean State.

During his upbringing in Haiti, Leger became fascinated with the aesthetic of the plantain leaf. He has previously cited the coloration of the leaves, their shape, and their organic nature as key inspirations in his art-making. For him, this form represents the cycle of life. Both the changing aesthetics of the plantain leaf and its deeper meaning find their way into his vast body of work. Leger’s paintings, exhibited throughout URI’s two-level gallery space, illustrate his varied interests and his dynamic sensibility for trying out new methods of making images.

 

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Leger primarily works in acrylic, a fast-drying medium that allows him to layer and build. The works on view play with layers, textures, and even scale. While many of Leger’s finished paintings are moderate in size, a few pieces are strikingly large. One such larger scale work is “Zombified by a Few”, which depicts linear figures overlaid on a subtly toned sky. Leger’s treatment of the earth below the crowd is one of the most interesting in the show. Rich greens, paired with deep browns and blacks, combine in an overlapping puzzle of excitingly dashed lines.

While Leger’s use of color can be dazzling, some of the most striking works in the retrospective make the most of muted tones. In a smaller work, titled “Nature’s Connection” Leger leverages warm colors and rich surfaces to create a highly refined and almost geometric landscape. Palm fronds are set off against linear forms, giving both a sense of place and a sense of design within a carefully thought-out composition.

 

 

The subject matter of Leger’s work is as diverse as his scale and style. The figure is a recurring motif, as is nature, and even music. In a painting made to honor Nina Simone, a figure holding a microphone bursts from a collection of instruments including a piano, a guitar, and a drum. Below the music-making tools, a strain of music can be read. The piece hints at Leger’s interest in graphic qualities of design while celebrating a well-known musical artist.

The works on view in Leger’s show include pieces executed in a wide range of media. Leger is an artist with an insatiable appetite for experimentation and exploration. While many of the artworks include representational elements, a small series of works under the title “Mutations” features a foray into pure abstraction. The results in this grouping are amorphous, textured, and surreal. In some ways they look as if they were crafted by a different hand than the rest of Leger’s work, but they exude the same creative passions.
 

 

The exciting array of work on view tells Leger’s story and lauds his individualistic sense of exploration. While there are recurring forms and themes to be found, URI’s focus on Nixon Leger presents a collection grounded in life-long learning, in growth, and in an unbridled passion for making art.

To accompany the exhibition of Leger’s expansive body of work, URI will also host “In The Spirit: A Concert of Spirituals” on February 3rd at 7pm. Per URI, “the concert will feature traditional spirituals interpreted by noted music professor and nationally recognized bass-baritone, Dr. Frank Ward, Jr. The concert will be accompanied by pianist, Mark Greer with featured performances by noted dancer, choreographer teacher and healing artist Rev. Melody Ruffin Ward.”

The combination of Leger’s bright and inspiring paintings with this timely concert promises to be an exciting programmatic pairing. The exhibition of Leger’s wide-ranging work is a celebration of a University of Rhode Island alumnus of whom the school is rightly proud. Set in the context of their downtown campus, the show also offers new generations of students inspiration in numerous forms. While this exhibition charts over two decades of passionate art-making, it will be exciting to see what comes next for Nixon Leger.

Celebrating Nixon Leger is on view at URI’s Feinstein Providence Campus at 80 Fountain Street in Providence through February 24. The show is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Mondays – Thursdays 9 am - 9 pm, and Fridays 9 am - 5 pm. A reception will be held on February 17th, 6-8 pm.

For more information, visit uri.edu/ceps/prov/arts