Mike Ousley: Two Fiddles

Upper Gallery
March 6 - June 20, 2025

Exhibition Catalogue

"I knew an old fiddler named Art Stamper. He had a big case with two fiddles in it.

Art said the cherry fiddle was for playing the dance tunes. The honey-colored fiddle was for sweet sounding things.

There is a duality to everything in Appalachia. It can at once be breathtakingly beautiful, and also darker and more ominous."

Mike Ousley

“Ousley’s jewel-like paintings tell narratives that are ostensibly playful, even whimsical, like the parables of Heironymous Bosch.”
Michael Rooks,
Curator of Contemporary Art, High Museum

“I decided I wanted to take my painting back to the way I created images as a child, inspired by the visionary art of Kentucky and other Southern Folk artists... The storytelling traditions of Appalachia are a powerful influence.”