Local sculptor Martin Payton’s passion for African symbolism, the African-American experience and jazz will be on display tonight at the LSU Museum of Art.
His exhibit, “Broken Time: Sculpture by Martin Payton,” features 20 steel sculptures deeply rooted in modernism. It begins tonight, Oct. 19, with a Q&A with Payton at 6:30 p.m., followed by a reception featuring light hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar.
Payton, who creates his work from scrap metal, is inspired by New Orleans jazz musicians who “maintain African heritage in the form of polyrhythms, chants and improvisation.” He was a professor of art at Southern University for 20 years. He lives and maintains a studio here in Baton Rouge, but his work is also held in the permanent collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art and other major arts facilities.
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“Broken Time” will be accompanied by an illustrated catalog with essays by a variety of scholars and experts, including LSU MOA Curator Courtney Taylor; LSU Professor and Director of African & African American Studies Program Dr. Joyce Jackson; Southern University retired art historian Dr. Eloise Johnson; and New Orleans poet, editor and music producer Kalamu ya Salaam.
The exhibit will continue at the museum through Feb. 11. Admission to the opening reception is free for members, $5 for students and faculty with ID, and $10 for nonmembers.
LSU Museum of Art is in the Shaw Center for the Arts at 100 Lafayette St., fifth floor.