Broken Time: Sculpture by Martin Payton

New at the LSU Museum of Art, Broken Time: Sculpture by Martin Payton features over twenty-five steel sculptures by local sculptor Martin Payton. A New Orleans native, Payton now lives and maintains a studio in Baton Rouge. He worked as a professor of art at Southern University from 1990—2010; in 2002, he collaborated with John T. Scott on the Spirit House, a public art project that celebrated African American contributions to New Orleans by incorporating drawings of area school children into the project.

The LSU MOA exhibition includes recent works that showcase the artist at his most sophisticated. For these sculptures, Payton found inspiration in New Orleans jazz musicians who maintain African heritage in the form of polyrhythms, chants, and improvisation; with his preferred material of scrap metal, Payton welds together sparse, lyrical steel sculptures all deeply rooted in the modernist traditions. Payton speaks to the African American experience with each line, curve, and plane in his work.

The project will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalog with essays by LSU MOA Curator Courtney Taylor; LSU Professor and Director, 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. On view until February 11, 2018, with an opening reception on October 19 from 6 pm–8:30 pm; a Q& A with Payton begins at 6:30 pm. $10; free for members. lsumoa.org.

Read Erin Rolfs' profile of Payton and his cultural influences from our November 2017 issue.