Born May 10, 1972, New Orleans

       Bruce Davenport was reared by his grandparents in the Lafitte Projects of the Sixth Ward of New Orleans.  He was one of six children in a creative family. As a five year old, he began filling paper with drawings, influenced by watching “Good Times” on television. His grand parents encouraged him to draw. They took him to experience the lively streets of New Orleans, which eventually became reflected in his drawings. He excelled in art as a youngster and was encouraged by his teachers and became “known” as an achiever with any artwork that he attempted.

In his art, he captured the essence of his neighborhood, the marching bands, playing in the park, sports events, Indians in his “hood” and funeral celebrations throughout high school. Then came football and he dove headfirst into it in high school, leaving art behind. He played football in college at Northeastern Oklahoma and then transferred to Scottsdale but left college after two years and went home to New Orleans to dedicate himself again to making art.

His art was shown in various galleries first, as Bruce Davenport, Jr. His work was shown nationally in Houston, New York and especially at a number of New Orleans galleries. One special curator and tastemaker, Diego Cortez, introduced Bruce to the International art scene where his art was exhibited in Italy, Germany, Japan and France. During this eighteen year period, Bruce created art everyday, until Diego died in 2021.

Bruce also worked at many other jobs: furniture store delivery, digging graves and being a hotel doorman. But in each odd job, he kept feeling pointed back to making art through various synchronicities.

After Hurricane Katrina, his beloved Lafitte Project was changed forever. While living in a FEMA trailer in the aftermath, Bruce decided to retire Bruce Davenport, Jr. as his name. He wanted to honor where he came from and became the artist known as Dapper Bruce Lafitte.   He strived to bring back to life, in his drawings, the destroyed neighborhood he loved – the brass bands, the family traditions of many Indian tribes in the Projects, dressing for Mardi Gras and St. Joseph Night, sports events and especially the joyful home going celebrations. He includes many remembrances, deaths of his friends, criticisms and call outs to social injustice in comments throughout his works.

Bruce creates with vibrant permanent inks on archival paper and spends hours creating the details in each of his drawings. His success as Dapper Bruce Lafitte has been remarkable. He has shown at The Contemporary Arts Center and the New Orleans Museum of Art as part of Prospect Biennial and in numerous solo and group shows nationally. He was a recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation artist award in 2009. Today, his works are in many important collections throughout the world.

Available Works

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