Robert Dafford (born May 14, 1951) is an American
muralist
A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' ...
.
Life and work
Robert Dafford is a current resident of
Lafayette, Louisiana. He has painted over 400 works of public art across the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
and
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. He has been painting murals, signs, and fine art paintings for 35 years.
In the past fifteen years, Dafford has concentrated on working along the
Ohio River, painting over two hundred large historical images of cities on their floodwalls, using ''
trompe-l'œil
''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
'', advanced perspective, and realist technique.
[ Many ]riverboat
A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury un ...
tours make stops along the Ohio River specifically to see his murals. Dafford is best known for his murals in Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Miss ...
; Portsmouth, Ohio
Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. ...
; and Covington, Kentucky
Covington is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States, located at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking Rivers. Cincinnati, Ohio, lies to its immediate north across the Ohio and Newport, to its east across the Licking ...
. His giant ''Clarinet'' in ,[ and his depictions of the ]History of the Acadians
The Acadians (french: Acadiens) are the descendants of 17th and 18th century French settlers in parts of Acadia (French: ''Acadie'') in the northeastern region of North America comprising what is now the Canadian Maritime Provinces of New Brunsw ...
are also among his notable works.
The more than sixty consecutive Portsmouth murals are over tall and stretch over .[ Dafford's murals have been commissioned as public art projects that help to boost downtown development and pride in small communities. In 2009 he collaborated with former longtime employee ]Herb Roe
Herb Roe (born 1974) is a painter of large-scale outdoor murals and classical realist oil paintings. After attending the Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio for a short time, he apprenticed to mural artist Robert Dafford. After ...
on a poster project for the Zydeco Cajun Prairie Scenic Byway. The year-long project highlights many spots of interest in the three-parish region.
References
External links
Official website
Vicksburg Riverfront Murals
Mural City website
1951 births
Living people
American muralists
Trompe-l'œil artists
20th-century American painters
American male painters
21st-century American painters
21st-century American male artists
People from Lafayette, Louisiana
Artists from Louisiana
20th-century American male artists
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