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

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, and

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. 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

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, 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 {{US-painter-stub