I awoke at 5:30 this morning to the screams of “Who Dat!” hollered from our sidewalk as though I were Stella herself giving up on the half sleep that comes from tumultuous relationships and reignited passion. I awoke in a city blissfully plagued with hangovers and swollen eyes and strained vocal chords. (Maybe you didContinue reading “Who Dat! …. Plus Voodoo, Cow Heads, and DC Mardi Gras”
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I First Loved Picasso
As a kid, sometime around age twelve, I discovered my mother’s art books. She protected her prized tomes within plastic covers, locked behind the glass doors of a large, bright yellow wooden bookcase. Her collection included overviews of the Renaissance, Ancient Greece, and Lost Worlds, as well as Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Rubens, Durer, and MichelangeloContinue reading “I First Loved Picasso”
Reagan, Bush, and Gorbachev: A Story
By the mid-1980s George Rodrigue had a significant national reputation as a fine artist. Ironically, although his paintings depicted the landscapes and people of South Louisiana, his work garnered little serious attention at home, where the locals associated him with festival posters and black trees. Elsewhere in the country, however, his reputation flourished, particularly followingContinue reading “Reagan, Bush, and Gorbachev: A Story”
Assessing This Blog (Taking a Breath)
“But just imagine, my dear…! A whole periodical devoted to one person’s opinions! I would never have believed it possible!” (from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke) It’s the wee hours, and I’m blogging again, unable to sleep, to quiet my mind, because I’m retracing the Reagan and Gorbachev paintings in one minuteContinue reading “Assessing This Blog (Taking a Breath)”
Hurricanes, A Series of Paintings
By late summer 2002 George Rodrigue and I lived most of the time in Carmel, California. We placed our house on the market in Lafayette, Louisiana, but still spent time there on occasion as we waited for a buyer. By coincidence, we were in Lafayette for Hurricane Lili. I recall an argument with George aboutContinue reading “Hurricanes, A Series of Paintings”
Blue Dog: The Abstract Paintings, 2001-2003
George Rodrigue completed the Xerox Collection in early 2001. He spent the next several months building his studio in Carmel, California, and by that summer we were settled in Carmel, remaining there most of the next two years. Spurred on by the excitement over his new studio, he painted ‘round the clock, and I watchedContinue reading “Blue Dog: The Abstract Paintings, 2001-2003”
Blue Dog 2000, The Year of Xerox
Although most collectors and fans know by now that George Rodrigue avoids mass-production, products, and other projects that might be described as ‘sell-out,’ there was a period of time when I (and I daresay much of the gallery staff) approached each day on the defensive. The late 1990s brought a flood of projects his way,Continue reading “Blue Dog 2000, The Year of Xerox”
From Jolie Blonde to Bodies: Paintings of Women
According to local legend, in the 1920s a Cajun imprisoned in Port Arthur, Texas pined for his lost love, his beautiful blonde, his “Jolie Blonde,” and wrote a waltz from those feelings of longing. Over the years the song became for many the Cajun anthem based on a sort of modern day Evangeline, and CajunContinue reading “From Jolie Blonde to Bodies: Paintings of Women”
The Art Business, A Few Thoughts
Written in response to questions about the art business from artists and their partners, especially Joey, who wrote in this week- When I think back twenty years on the early days of working in the galleries in New Orleans and Carmel, California, I remember the frustration of wanting to do things a certain way butContinue reading “The Art Business, A Few Thoughts”
Blue Dog Man, 1996- 1999
Maybe it’s Diana Krall singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” or maybe it’s the lights on our turquoise tree, or maybe it’s this stormy New Orleans afternoon, but something has made me sentimental in thinking back on what I like to call the ‘Blue Dog Man’ years, 1996-1999. It was during this time thatContinue reading “Blue Dog Man, 1996- 1999”