Arik Roper | Space & Time

Space and Time

Arik Roper
Opening January 9, 2026
Mortal Machine Gallery — New Orleans
940 + 938 Royal Street

Mortal Machine Gallery is proud to present Space and Time, an exhibition of work by Arik Roper, opening January 9, 2026, in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Featuring up to 30 works, Space and Time brings together a wide span of Roper’s visual universe of paintings and illustrations that traverse ancient landscapes, cosmic thresholds, deserts, forests, ruins, and mythic passages. These are images that feel excavated rather than illustrated, drawn from deep wells of mythology, nature, heavy music culture, and personal symbolism.

In Space and Time, the gallery setting allows these works to slow down and breathe. Removed from their original function as album covers or printed ephemera, the images reveal a quieter gravity. Lone travelers stand at thresholds. Creatures emerge from earth and shadow. Landscapes stretch endlessly, shaped by forces older than memory. Roper’s use of watercolor, ink, and restrained color gives the work a sense of age and patience, as if each image has existed long before it was put to paper.

This exhibition also marks a significant milestone for Mortal Machine Gallery.

Opening night on January 9 will serve as the grand opening of our expanded second location at 938 Royal Street, alongside the reopening of our newly remodeled showroom at 940 Royal Street. Together, these two adjacent spaces allow us to broaden our curatorial program, present more ambitious exhibitions, and deepen the experience of moving through the gallery. The expansion represents a natural evolution of Mortal Machine—one rooted in long-term vision, artist relationships, and the belief that work like this deserves space to unfold.

Space and Time is both a reflection and a forward step: a meditation on endurance, scale, and myth, paired with a new chapter for the gallery itself.

We invite you to join us on January 9 to experience this exhibition across both spaces and to step into the worlds Arik Roper has been building for decades.

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