Jim Roche

Jim Roche (b. 1943, Jackson County, Florida) is an American contemporary artist, known for his work chronicling Southern culture in sculptures, graphics, and performance art since the 1960s. His work often adopts the folk motifs of contemporary Southern culture, often infusing them with deep political and social commentaries. Roche graduated from the University of Dallas in 1970 and taught at Florida State University from 1973 to 2011. Roche was also part of the Oak Cliff Four, a group of artists from Dallas. He has been an avid motorcycle racer, has has performed small roles in a number of films - for instance, as a televangelist in The Silence of the Lambs. He is married to fellow artist Alexa Kleinbard. Roche has had solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of Art (New York, NY), the Contemporary Arts Museum (Houston, TX), and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans, LA) among others. His honors include The National Endowment for the Arts in 1975 and 1982 and the Florida Arts Council Fellowship in 1980. He was incited to the Venice Biennial in 1976, and the Paris Biennale in 1977.