​Trustmark Grand Hall

Self-taught Mississippi artist O.W. “Pappy” Kitchens (1901-1986) painted his magnum opus, The Saga of Red Eye the Rooster, between 1973 and 1976. Kitchens’ most ambitious allegorical work, the collection consists of 60 panels, each one measuring 15 inches square and composed of mixed materials on paper. The artist presents a homespun Pilgrim’s Progress in the form of a beast fable, following Red Eye from foundling to funeral, exploring the life of this extraordinary bird. Red Eye’s quasi-human behavior inevitably maneuvers him into conflicts with antagonists of all sorts. He encounters violence, avarice, lust, greed, and most of the other seven deadly sins, dispatching them in heroic fashion until he finally succumbs to his own fatal flaw.

This exhibition is free and open to the public.

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with the book Pappy Kitchens and the Saga of Red Eye the Rooster by William Dunlap. Published in 2019 by University Press of Mississippi.