VISUAL ARTS: LOUISIANA CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITION, 2026
Emily Ezell, Emily Arose (2025), from the artist's own collection, part of the current Louisiana Contemporary exhibition at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Louisiana Contemporary 2026 @ The Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Review by Jamie Chiarello
If you want to see an art show that offers a blunt mirror of where we are at in America right now, The Louisiana Contemporary show presented by the Helis foundation at the Ogden museum can provide just that. As a working artist myself, I can’t say that I don’t enter these shows carrying my own bias. I want to see work that is hard to fathom, I want to be moved and inspired and pushed full of awe. But for a show that is reflecting the current state of America, that would probably be disingenuous, and I appreciate the Ogden for choosing not to sugarcoat our current moment.
A number of pieces reflect a general tone of the show, and I was impressed to see all these pieces come together to form a complex sense of coherence. For me, this tone carried a sense of lost optimism, limbo and unresolved contradictions. In paintings, people stare into space, at versions of people that are no longer reflected in mirrors. They balance precariously on ladders and one another’s shoulders.
A photograph by Jacob Mitchell sums it up well; a smoke stack billowing among homes titled ‘In our backyard’. Much of it feels a bit precarious and random, yet unavoidable. Angela Lynn Tucker’s bleached flag creates a strong base to string other questions upon. Barbara Jordan’s voice echos through the room, asking in earnest if we are willing and able to live up to the ideals democracy declares. The bleached flag in itself is a compelling symbol in its own right and made me ask ‘what does this show tell me about us?’.
Aside from my personal desire to experience awe I also try to go to art shows and try to see everything from an almost anthropological perspective, as though I am outside of things- simply, what do these images and objects tell me about us, as a people?
I would say that we are in some ways almost cripplingly self-aware, and uncertain of what may come next. The land of opportunity has been revealed as the land of ‘I’m really just trying to get by’. A photograph by Pablo Perez-Castroman shows smiley faced balloons piled into a shopping cart. In a world where the future often looks frightening, we take what we can get now.
One of my favorite paintings in the show is an acrylic by Erin Bennet titled ‘Our Corner of the Universe’. Two children playing with pots on their heads, somehow tucked deep inside and outside the world of our concerns. The paint handling made me curious and excited.
The piece that filled me with the most awe is ‘Azoth’ by Ryan Burns. Unfathomable, because I have no idea how this sculpture is made from copper and concrete. It's deeply fathomable in its prompt to wonder about dead things and new growth, and all that happens in between.
The two works that stand like bookends of this show to me are a photograph by Brandon Holland titled ‘Angels Dresses’ - a expression of finding beauty within discard - and a pastel drawing by Adam Newman titled ‘Mostly Temporary and Cloudy’. A wall stands out in the elements, it probably held something once. It no longer is what it once was but hasn’t yet found a new purpose or way to be. I think this is where we are.
Louisiana Contemporary runs at The Ogden Museum of Southern Art through February 14th, 2027. Click here for more details.
Jamie Chiarello is an artist working in New Orleans. Click here to see her work and support her via her art: www.namelessart.com
Review by Jamie Chiarello
If you want to see an art show that offers a blunt mirror of where we are at in America right now, The Louisiana Contemporary show presented by the Helis foundation at the Ogden museum can provide just that. As a working artist myself, I can’t say that I don’t enter these shows carrying my own bias. I want to see work that is hard to fathom, I want to be moved and inspired and pushed full of awe. But for a show that is reflecting the current state of America, that would probably be disingenuous, and I appreciate the Ogden for choosing not to sugarcoat our current moment.
A number of pieces reflect a general tone of the show, and I was impressed to see all these pieces come together to form a complex sense of coherence. For me, this tone carried a sense of lost optimism, limbo and unresolved contradictions. In paintings, people stare into space, at versions of people that are no longer reflected in mirrors. They balance precariously on ladders and one another’s shoulders.
A photograph by Jacob Mitchell sums it up well; a smoke stack billowing among homes titled ‘In our backyard’. Much of it feels a bit precarious and random, yet unavoidable. Angela Lynn Tucker’s bleached flag creates a strong base to string other questions upon. Barbara Jordan’s voice echos through the room, asking in earnest if we are willing and able to live up to the ideals democracy declares. The bleached flag in itself is a compelling symbol in its own right and made me ask ‘what does this show tell me about us?’.
Aside from my personal desire to experience awe I also try to go to art shows and try to see everything from an almost anthropological perspective, as though I am outside of things- simply, what do these images and objects tell me about us, as a people?
I would say that we are in some ways almost cripplingly self-aware, and uncertain of what may come next. The land of opportunity has been revealed as the land of ‘I’m really just trying to get by’. A photograph by Pablo Perez-Castroman shows smiley faced balloons piled into a shopping cart. In a world where the future often looks frightening, we take what we can get now.
One of my favorite paintings in the show is an acrylic by Erin Bennet titled ‘Our Corner of the Universe’. Two children playing with pots on their heads, somehow tucked deep inside and outside the world of our concerns. The paint handling made me curious and excited.
The piece that filled me with the most awe is ‘Azoth’ by Ryan Burns. Unfathomable, because I have no idea how this sculpture is made from copper and concrete. It's deeply fathomable in its prompt to wonder about dead things and new growth, and all that happens in between.
The two works that stand like bookends of this show to me are a photograph by Brandon Holland titled ‘Angels Dresses’ - a expression of finding beauty within discard - and a pastel drawing by Adam Newman titled ‘Mostly Temporary and Cloudy’. A wall stands out in the elements, it probably held something once. It no longer is what it once was but hasn’t yet found a new purpose or way to be. I think this is where we are.
Louisiana Contemporary runs at The Ogden Museum of Southern Art through February 14th, 2027. Click here for more details.
Jamie Chiarello is an artist working in New Orleans. Click here to see her work and support her via her art: www.namelessart.com
