For the first time in 30 years, all George Rodrig fans can peek into the Blue Dog artist’s studio.
This will happen when PBS premieres the documentary “Blue: The Life and Art of George Rodrigue” on public television stations from May 29th. LPB said it is not scheduled to air that day, but it is likely to show that in August.
Meanwhile, “Blue” will also begin streaming on Pbs.org on May 29th.
WLAE in New Orleans is a film presentation station distributed on American public television.
Jack Rodrig, the son of George Rodrig, executive director of the George Rodrig Foundation’s Arts Foundation, is shown while being interviewed in the film “Blue: The Life and Art of George Rodrig.”
“This will be my first career in documentary about my father,” said Jack Rodrig, the son and executive director of the artist at the George Rodrig Foundation of the Arts. “It’s a really great chronological show so I know people learn that much. And we’ve filmed in his studio for the first time in 30 years. This is my mother’s house, and my brother Andre and I will do a small tour where he portrayed all of Cajun’s works and where it all began.”
Debuted in New Orleans
Producer-directed by Sean O’Malley, O’Malley Productions, made their “Blue” debut at the New Orleans Film Festival last October.
“The producers first approached us about making a film almost three years ago,” Jack Rodrig said. “For years, I have archived and digitized my father’s catalogue, but I have also digitized his material, footage and old TV interviews. So when the filmmakers first approached us, we had a real treasure trove to share with them.”
Sean O’Malley is the director and producer of “Blue”: George Rodrig’s Life and Arts.
The film is an intimate portrait of the resilience and creativity of a world-renowned Cajun artist who tells the story of his ancestors who were exiled through brushstrokes.
Lots of interviews
“Blue” offers a rich and detailed view of George Rodrig’s life, and provides a rich and detailed view through new candid interviews with family, curator, critic, collector and chef/restaurant Emeril Lagus, former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, political strategist James Kerrville, and well-known admirers of former New Orban League Mial Mial Marias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias Morias.
Along with Jack Rodrig and his brother Andre, the film also features the first wife of their mother, George Rodrig – Veronica Hidalgo Redman. The artist’s second wife, Wendy Rodrig Magnus.
George Rodrig’s second wife, Wendy Rodrig Magnus, is shown in an interview scene during filming “Blue: The Life and Art of George Rodrig.”
Viewers can see rare footage that is invisible for almost 50 years, sealing Rodrig’s reflections on his roots and artistic inspiration.
“We hope that audiences will see ‘blue’ as a respect for its lasting impact on art and culture in Louisiana and around the world,” O’Malley said. “His story as an artist is layered and deeply inspired. From his majestic oak trees and inspiring Cajun portraits to his iconic blue dog, his masterpieces weave extraordinary tales, and are a powerful testimony of his perseverance and the profound influence that his art has had on so many lives.”
“Blue” is produced by WLAE New Orleans ‘6th Street Studios in connection with O’Malley Productions.
“Blue: George Rodrig’s Life and Art” location, filmed at the Rodrig Gallery in Lafayette
New Orleans native and author Giannin O’Malley is the power behind O’Malley Productions, who also produced the documentaries Fats Dominoes – Return to New Orleans, Homage to Toussaint, and Irma Thomas: Queen of the Souls of New Orleans.
How did it begin?
The artist often told the story of his art introduction through the gifts of paint-by numbers set when he was locked in bed with Polio in his third grade. However, he chose to abandon the numbers on the back of the canvas and create his own work.
He later studied art at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette and the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, then first documented the decline of Cajun culture through a series depicting oak trees with moss-bearing limbs, then moved to paintings showing the people of Cajun.
George Rodrig’s 1971 painting “Iori Dinner.”
“He portrayed Cajun people before Chef Paul Prudhom’s Cajun revival,” Jack Rodrig said. “This was when Cajun culture wasn’t really something to be celebrated. If you told my grandmother I was Cajun, she might have slapped you.
Rodrig celebrated through inspiring works such as his 1971 1971 work, The Aioli Dinner and Jolie Blonde.
Cajun celebrated
“The more I stayed in Los Angeles (for art school), the more I realized how different I was,” George Rodrig says in a 1970 restored interview with the film. “Louisiana is different. People are different. I wanted to portray childhood feelings. We had different foods, we had different music. No one recorded the last 200 years.”
George Rodrig’s 1974 painting “Jolie Blonde.”
He also wanted to portray the resilience of his culture in a difficult way.
“They (Cajun) had to live in the swamps, right?” George Rodrig said. “They weren’t allowed in New Orleans. They weren’t allowed in populated areas. This is what I want to show: pain, the pain of all these people.”
In the 1960s and 1970s, artistic critics fired or struggled to understand George Rodrig’s paintings. The museums and galleries did not show his artwork.
“Loop Garrow” by George Rodrig.
“He realised early on that you can’t listen to what the critics say as long as you portray what’s in your mind and believe in the public,” Jack Rodrig said. “He believed the public would respond.”
Finally, the hour-long film explores the origins of Blue Dog, first portrayed in 1984 and inspired by Loup-Garou, Cajun Lore’s “crazy werewolf dog,” modeled after Rodrig’s family dog, Tiffany.
What began as a ghost story evolved into a global pop icon in the early 1990s, featured in the high-profile ad campaigns of Presidential Portraits, Absolut Vodka, Neiman Marcus and Xerox, and was acquired by celebrities collectors such as Sylvester Stallone and Whoopi Goldberg.
For more information, please visit wlae.com/rodriguebluedogfilm.
