Roy Tamboli

Roy Tamboli

Memphis artist Roy Tamboli is a descendant of the Delta Italians, a migration that began in 1895 from the Marche region of Italy to the Mississippi Delta. Roy was raised a strict Catholic and credits some of his early interest in art to looking at religious works every morning at mass before school. He attended the University of Memphis and was a sculpture instructor at the Memphis College of Art for one year. In 1975 he left college for a year-long pilgrimage to the museums of Europe to see first-hand classical, tribal, ancient and religious art. This experience, which included access to copying original, uncovered drawings of Leonardo da Vinci at the British Museum in London and a visit to Rodin's studio, left an indelible effect on his work and propelled Roy to travel the world in search of indigenous art in Africa, India, Asia and South America.

Although Roy is primarily recognized for his large-scale abstract and figurative bronze and steel sculptures, he is also known for experimental and conceptual works in a wide variety of media. His work has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the country and abroad including the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston; the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston; the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis; the Mitsukoshi Museum of Art in Fukuoka, Japan; and Galerie Enrico Bucci in Santiago, Chile. Roy's work is in both private and public collections including those of B.B. King; John Lee Hooker, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art; The Hyde Foundation, Nortel Corporation, and Harrah's Entertainment in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1992, he co-founded Delta Axis, a nonprofit visual arts organization located in Memphis


Web site: tamboli.com