In the market for art? Some local talents have your back...(image by B-Mike)
Painting You A Picture
The city has a wealth of artistic talent. Here's a few skilled folk to check out.
The city has a wealth of artistic talent. Here's a few skilled folk to check out.
As someone who couldn’t draw a stick person without a few weeks of intensive training, I’m forever in awe of people with artistic skill. I’m really trying to improve my knowledge of the visual arts and art history (James Payne’s ‘Great Art Explained’ channel on YouTube is a very accessible resource), and I’m trying to get to more local exhibitions. I’ve started to try and buy small pieces of art when I’m able, and it seems especially important to support our local visual art community as the a.i. interlopers appear on the horizon. Here’s a list of a few local artists - it’s not a ‘best of’ or anything like that, just a few people I like, so feel free to enlighten me if there’s anyone you think deserves a spotlight (email us at [email protected] and tell us who you like and why, and we’ll perhaps do a small follow-up feature next week).
Anyway, here are some wonderful local talents. Since I’m not very linguistically equipped to talk about art, I’ll use the artists’ own words where necessary. Other impressions are my own, and so are completely subjective. To avoid any copyright issues, I’m going to use publicly available thumbnails to link to the artists’ own websites for examples of their work - please click through to see the works in their full glory:
Anyway, here are some wonderful local talents. Since I’m not very linguistically equipped to talk about art, I’ll use the artists’ own words where necessary. Other impressions are my own, and so are completely subjective. To avoid any copyright issues, I’m going to use publicly available thumbnails to link to the artists’ own websites for examples of their work - please click through to see the works in their full glory:
Jamie Chiarello
I own more of Jamie’s art than any other local artist, mostly thanks to having been a part of her Patreon. If you donate $10 a month, then every four months, you can choose an original sketch of hers to keep. Jamie’s talent is only matched by her work ethic and commitment to the craft, and, I don’t know, there’s just something about her figure drawing that is incredibly intimate to me. Her subjects are often disembodied, without (or perhaps beyond) places in this world. Jamie is constantly learning and developing her style, and that passion really shines through. I think we can all learn from part of her artist’s statement: “Everyone is very busy yelling at each other to be sure of their own existence. Mind your own silence! Yell at yourself in your head.” Jamie's website |
Brandon ‘B-Mike’ Odums
I’ve wandered around Studio Be quite a few times now, and I’m always struck by the scale and variety of B-Mike’s work. One of the most rewarding times was a recent visit with my friend Geoffrey Wilson, who kindly gave me some much-needed context on viewing the paintings and installations through the lens of growing up Black in modern America. Odums’ huge murals are likely some of the most Instagrammed artworks in the city, but these locally-famous images are really just the tip of the B-Mike iceberg, and as you discover that he also uses everything from video game cabinets to basketball courts to make his statements, you begin to realize the depth of his talent. B-Mike's Studio BE website |
Ida Floreak
There’s a sense of ecological anxiety mixed with positivity in many of Floreak’s paintings. She presents natural artifacts (feathers, eggs, leaves) as things to be admired or even worshipped, like they’re in a prestigious museum or on the altar of a church. She says that she “explores what it means to be human in a time of ecological disaster, where to find hope and our place in the recovery.” That seems like a suitably optimistic message, and it means that although her subjects are often removed from the natural world (or have been discarded by it), looking at them can inspire us to preserve the habitats and environments that they came from. Ida's website |
Anna Kincaid
Colorful, explosive bouquets of flowers burst out from the heads of mannequins in Anna’s most recent paintings (done with oils and mixed media). “I have always studied women, and the floral component has come to symbolize the female mind, with all of the chaos and beauty it beholds,” says Anna. They’re kind of a glorious floral version of the ‘galaxy brain’ meme, like having your mind blown by an avant-garde florist. There’s elements of empowerment, liberation and vulnerability at the same time, and set again retro patterned wallpaper (the mayhem of the bouquets contrasting with the ordered patterns behind them), they just look striking and cool. There you go, there’s the limits of my artistic vocabulary: these paintings are striking and cool. Anna's website |
Kristen KAWD Downing
Self-taught artists are always so impressive. Kristen got her artistic start as a tattoo artist, which developed into a passion for painting, a passion that really jumps out at you when you see her work. She creates (among other things) large-scale, linear shapes that she juxtaposes with vivid colors, sometimes of famous or celebrated Black icons, sometimes of ordinary folk. Most of them strike a chord with provocative social or political commentary. I particularly like her riff on collectable sporting figure cards. Kristen's website |
Marrus
Full disclosure, I have known Marrus for a number of years, and I’ve even helped run her art market stall at the night market on Frenchmen Street in the past. Her magical realism always drew curious people in, and given my absolute lack of talent in this area, it was nice even to be associated with her vibrant, evocative and imaginative work. In her own words, she paints “metaphors for the human condition”, and she hits a sweet spot between poignancy, mischievousness and universality that I don’t think can be learned. Her titles often involve some delightful wordplay (Autumnbrella is a personal favorite) and she builds these dreamlike bridges between the real and the mythic or magical (cryptids, faes and spirits all feature heavily). Marrus' website |
Carlton Scott Sturgill
I’ve also known Scott for a while and I've just been consistently dazzled by his creativity and skill. One thing (of many things) that Scott does is to use discarded materials - second-hand wedding clothing, paint chip samples from Home Depot and old designer shirts, for example - and sculpts them into site-specific floral installations (his work has graced such diverse locations as The Drifter Hotel in New Orleans, and the Pegasus Bank in Dallas). Whether these sculptures are small, wall-mounted bouquets or huge floral hydra covering entire walls, they have a completely beguiling intimacy and aesthetic. The heartbreaking detail of each flower is set against a culture of disposable fabrics and materials. Scott also excels at painting, sculpture, and collage (I know, he's annoyingly talented) but these installations are what first caught my eye. Scott's website |
Layla Messkoub
The familiarity of flowers and leaves also draw you into Messkoub’s pieces, which are created via traditional printmaking, drawings, and hand embroidery on paper. Look closer, though, and they’re a mix of the synthetic and natural worlds, lovingly textured collages combining handmade fibers, organic pigments and (according to her website) ephemera from travels around the world. To me, they’re like living wallpaper. Some seem inspired by ancient Japanese woodcuts, others by wild, lush, tropical vegetation. Layla's website |
Ian Chrystal I have this original by Ian over my desk at home. It reminds me of the Turin Shroud, but if Jesus happened to have had a chronic hangover that day. Ian's a hardworking painter and constantly has shows popping up around town, most notably in the Bywater at places like The Domino or Bar Redux. He's a very versatile artist, working with mixed media to similarly striking effect whether its charcoals or acrylics. He's equally at home with abstract spookiness or detailed realism, so expect renditions of beloved New Orleans buildings as well as the demons that might haunt them. Ian's Instagram |