Marlowe Parker

Marlowe Parker is an artist who was an inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Parker exhibited and sold his artwork during the Angola Rodeo art shows. Burl Cain, the warden of Angola, said in 2012 that Parker is "probably one of our best artists."[1] Harry Connick Jr. is one of Parker's fans. Parker named Clementine Hunter and his stepfather, an artist and former Angola prisoner named Gilbert Green, as his influences. Parker is incarcerated due to a 25-year drug-related sentence.[2] Parker had family members living in New Orleans.[3]

Louisiana State Penitentiary, where Parker is imprisoned

Paintings

Parker's works include scenes of everyday life, his own fictional characters, and images of plantation life. Several of Parker's works, including those in urban and rural settings, feature "moose heads," caricatures of people with long necks and large heads. Rebecca Todd Pitre of the Baton Rouge-based 225 wrote that "At the Angola Prison Rodeo, Parker’s fictional characters draw the biggest crowds."[2]

In 2005, as Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Parker, then incarcerated in Angola, made paintings using the scenes on television as his inspiration.[3] On Sunday October 7, 2012,[1] an individual stole one of Parker's paintings during the Angola Rodeo.[4] The stolen work, a 16 inches (410 mm) by 12 inches (300 mm) oil painting, depicted the Magnolia Mound Plantation. The work's original price was $1,500. Cain said that the painting was "probably" worth $500 or more and that he was not surprised Parker was targeted.[1] It was one of three paintings that Parker was exhibiting and it had won second place in the arts and crafts show.[4]

References
  1. "Angola inmate out hundreds after becoming the victim of theft at the arts and crafts show." (Archive) NBC 33 News (Baton Rouge). Wednesday October 10, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2013.
  2. Pitre, Rebecca Todd. "Painting his penitence." (Archive) 225. December 31, 2008. Updated May 4, 2013. Retrieved on November 2, 2013.
  3. Express. "In the Aftermath: 'Way Down in New Orleans'." Washington Post. September 11, 2008. Retrieved on November 2, 2013. "MARLOWE PARKER was locked up in Angola Prison when the hurricanes came. His family was out there in the wind and water, and his only connection was the TV. So he painted from it."
  4. Baker-Zachary Bureau. "Art theft hits Angola Archived 2013-11-04 at the Wayback Machine." The Advocate. October 16, 2012. Retrieved on October 9, 2013.
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