ROGER ALLAN CLEAVES

I arranged this painting using compositional devices borrowed from Edouard Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass. I have always enjoyed the spectacular nature of Manet’s painting and we share many similarities as artists. We both have been influenced by the history of painting, the flatness of Japanese prints, and the idea that imagery can be multifaceted in its relationship to the viewer. Our work also exists outside the boundaries of the established and accepted conventions in our

My solo exhibition Project Fusion is now open to the public. The exhibition will be on view until October 14th 2022. The reception will be held on October 13th from 4:30PM -6:00PM The exhibition features 14 works ranging from 2019 - 2022 and the works are a mixture of mixed media drawings and oil paintings. #art #contemporaryart #artexhibitions #ForgetMeNotsLand #FMNL #contemporarypainting #painting #rogerallancleaves #soloexhibition #artcollector #artcurator #afrofuturism

This is the NFT sneaker collection I have been working on over at Openseas. I'm going to list them tomorrow. Get your Ethereum bucks ready! With all kidding aside it's really been fun creating this. If nothing else comes from it I have a lot of interesting design pre-made for future paintings. It would be nice to sell them all and have them floating around in the NFT universe. There is still plenty of daylight left so I'm going to finish up some drawings. I hope everyone is h

This is an animated short I made over the weekend. I've been getting all my main character rigs created and it's really been pushing the narrative to be able to play with these characters in the world of animation. This short introduces, Ava Sinclaire, one of my main characters, to FMNL (Forget Me Nots Land. I haven't figured out the sound of this world but I will one day. Take it as is for now. Enjoy. #animation #FMNL #FORGETMENOTSLAND #RogerallanCleaves #RogerCleavesArt #Av

I'm making some animation cycles for some future NFTs. It's really fun creating characters. Art has always been character based for me. I grew up when entertainment was comics, crayons, and pencils you could find. That's still my go to outlet when I need to escape from reality. This is my first attempt at Bookie's walk cycle. I want to try one that moves a little slower in the future. #art #animation #FMNL #rogerallancleaves #sketching #drawing #penandink #BookieBadBoy #anim

This week I started my adventure with NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens). What are NFT’s? From my novice level understanding it’s like Crypto currency, but in the form of art. I just see NFt’s as a way for my digital works, both finished and experimental, to exist in a realm where they are valued in a fair way. My studio practice has involved digital processes since the invention of photoshop. Since that starting point, I’ve branched out into animation, databending, glitch art, and

Fact of Blackness opens today at the Dominique Gallery. 5654 West Adams Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90016 213-256-4882 www.dominiquegallery.com The exhibition was curated by Jasmine McNeal and I will be showing with Marcus Davies, Jasmyne Hampden, Lanise Howard, Erin Kendrick, Brandon Porter, Steve A. Prince, and Laneigh Ramirex. Check it Out. It will also be available to view on Artsy! #exhibitions #DominiqueGallery #contemporaryart

#art #artexhibitions #contemporaryart #rogerallancleaves #philadelphia #painting #sculpture #mikerea #bertrandproductions

These are drawings that I made yesterday. I usually spend Sunday's either painting or making sketches of existing paintings looking for ways to improve the composition. #RogerAllanCleaves #InkonPaper #drawing #ART2019 #contemporaryart #abstractfiguration #heads #penandink

The ability to think about your work and only your work is the greatest skill you can hone in the studio. A practice should be focused. Lately I feel distracted by life and the holiday season, but I am trying to get back to that place where my concentration is at it's highest resolve. It is important to control your thoughts so that you can control your will. We have to let the momentary distractions that lead us to anger and discontentment to not lead us away from the love

Here are some recent pictures of my exhibition Ground Breaking located in the Beverly & Sam Ross Gallery at Christian Brothers University. It will be up until October 24th. Mon - Thurs: 7:45am - 11Pm Fri : 7:45am - 4:30PM Sat: 12-4PM Sun: 1 - 11PM #Memphis #ChristianBrothers #BeverlySamRossGallery #artexhibition #installation #contemporaryart #contemporaryartist #rogerallancleaves #UWMadisonalumni #UniversityofMemphisart #theforgetmenots #contemporarypainting #southernartist

Sometimes the best paintings are the products of what occurs while trying to make what you think is a painting. Happy accidents happen all the time. Part of me enjoys the roughness and nonchalant nature of the materials that get stained while you work. They too possess a certain aesthetic beauty that can be harnessed into the creation of new work. #foundpaintings #contemporaryart #painting #artblog #rogerallancleaves #rogercleaves #abstractart #aestheticbeauty #leftovers #sc

It's been a long day of working outside in the heat to resolve the sculptures for my upcoming show. Making sculptures always gives me ideas for future paintings. It opens up doors in my mind that I probably wouldn't go through if I stuck to two dimensional work. I like when I have the opportunity to make objects that exist in space. These sculptures look and feel like loose abstract paintings to me, but they are made in a slow and thoughtful manner. I'm working using an ad

My studio practice has been leading my down the path of patterning and texture. I spend quite a bit of time researching Egyptian art and I'm interested in the ornamental ways artist from that era decorated sculptures and objects created for fashion. Everything in my created world has to have my own spin. I like to manipulate everything to my on liking when I pull in foreign elements unless it's for a really specific reason. I've been using Corel Painter and Illustrator CS -w

It has been a long time since I set out to make a drawing that was concrete in it's possibilities. Most of my drawings start abstractly now. I enjoy finding imagery in my warm up exercises and developing ideas from fragments. This morning I tried to draw something that was already resolved in my head and I found the task to be difficult in the sense that the idea of proceeding was just too boring. I generally find art that looks like it has been preconceived to be boring unl

I was recently featured in ArtAscent. I answered a call to artist to respond to the idea of youth. I'm really pleased with the write up about my work. I will post a link when they release the publication in the next couple of days. It really makes me feel good when people write about my work without trying to skirt around the ideas that I put into all the creations in my studio practice. It's impossible to understand my work without that insight. As a creator I don't set o

If you want to hear the radio interview I did with Malcolm White and Teresa Haygood you can check it out online by following this link: http://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/mississippi-arts-hour/roger-cleaves-aired-on-april-15-2018/ #contemporaryart #artisttalk #radio #interview #rogerallancleaves #rogercleaves #theforgetmenots #dangergods #talk

If you have not had a chance to check out Monsters Marks at AMUM the University of Memphis museum, please stop by and take a look. Below are a few snapshots and that is just the tip of the iceberg. For more information check out this link: http://www.memphis.edu/amum/exhibitions/monstermarks.php #contemporaryart #memphis #memphisart #musuem #artcollector #artcollections #curatedexhibitions #artexhibitions #art #painting #photography #monstersmarks #rogerallancleaves #wangechi

You can check out my work in the spring issue of ArtMaze Mag. I was selected for inclusion by, art critic and editor of Hyperallergic Magazine, Benjamin Sutton. It is a honor to be included in this international publication with so many talented artist. Please check out the complete list and pre-order a copy ! http://artmazemag.com/spring-issue-7/ On the cover: Howard Fonda, ‘Untitled’, oil and colored pencil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches #rogerallancleaves #artmazemag #artmaze #

I have some work in Monsters Marks. I hope you can check it out. I'm also in the a group exhibition titled A World Away in Jackson, Mississippi and you can read about it here! Art Museum of the University of Memphis (AMUM) / 3750 Norriswood Ave., 142 Communications and Fine Arts Bldg.March 25 - July 28th (Reception: March 25 3:00pm - 6:00pm) Awe-inspiring, thought-provoking, and sometimes disturbing, works featured from Memphis collections make us think about how we define m