float - 2005.
48 x 96 inches. (122 x 244 cm.)
Acrylic on masonite
bottom photo:
float - 2006.
72 x 16 x 24 in.
Acrylic on Masonite, rope and wood.
2006.
| top photo: float - 2005. 48 x 96 inches. (122 x 244 cm.) Acrylic on masonite |
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| 2005. (unfinished)
bottom photo: |
|
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While working on this series of paintings in 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck
just East of New Orleans. Although this painting was outside in the weather
during the storm and for the 3 weeks I was living in exile, it remained
completely unharmed. It was lying on the ground when I returned.
It made me wonder what a person would have given to escape a hot attic while rising flood waters crept slowly through their dearest possessions. Would I sacrifice my best works of art to escape. Could I actually fashion a boat from a masonite painting and float away from that hell? A few cuts with a circular saw and I had the 3 pieces necessary to create a usable pirogue (a small boat used by Cajuns). In all of the insanity that is life since the storm, I forgot to make a paddle. Now that I'd given up my life's work to make a boat...was I supposed to just float forever on stagnant flood waters?
Beth Baldwin invited me to show some works in an exhibition of New Orleans artists at Warehouse in Washington D.C. The show was scheduled to open on Mardi Gras. I decided to load the boat on top of my car and drive the seventeen hours to D.C.
The entire trip was documented with my camera. More specifically the interior of my hotel room was photographed periodically. So I got alot of photos of empty Stolichnaya (Russian: Столичная: "capital (vodka)" bottles, a dirty bathtub, and one blurred photo of the U.S. Capital Building. Next time you are in Washington D.C., spend at least one day totally drunk. It's cathartic.
