"The Mixed Bag" @ Galerie Gigi

Who: James Taylor Bonds, John Fields, Hayley Gaberlavage, John K. Lawson, Jimmy Mac, and Vitalija Svencionyte

What: “The Mixed Bag” Art Exhibition

When: Opening reception: Friday, October 2, 2009 at 6PM. Exhibition runs through 10/30/09

Where: Galerie Gigi 627 Saint Peter St. (between Royal and Chartres)

Press Release:

Galerie Gigi is proud to present “The Mixed Bag”. This group exhibition, curated by Terrence Sanders features large-scale works that reflect the diversity, eccentricity, and individuality of New Orleans’ unique visual culture. The artists featured in this exhibition explore the personal, the political, and the geographical narrative of a city, a nation, and a people full of contrasts.
When Katrina ravished John K. Lawson’s studio containing 25 years of artwork, the artist’s work turned to exploring the fragility of life using salvaged artwork and encaustic. Recently Lawson has incorporated blueprints from the 1984 World Fair and New Orleans city ordinance and zoning maps into his work, presenting a refashioned body of work that has stepped out of the personal and into the world at large.
Birmingham native John Fields works with opposing forces. Whether it is the fundamental contrasts of black and white, the humorous and the horrible, or the sexy and the disgusting, his work attempts to present both sides of a question, forcing the opposing sides into a single gestalt unity. His new body of work explores personal and political questions involving the new, so-called “post-racism” America that began with last November’s elections.
James Taylor Bonds’ work is a depiction of New Orleans as seen through the eyes of a southern boy lost in the romanticism and despair of the stories of a city who sleeps with its’ past. Bonds offers the vision of a silent wanderer, exploring a city whose history is prominently stained on its streets and its’ people.
Jimmy Mac has traded in his instruments for acrylics and hand ground pastels. After 2 decades of performing with Cajun rock band Loup Garou, Jimmy Mac is now creating canvases that dance between the figurative and the abstract. Hayley Gaberlavage is inspired by a love of fashion, furniture, and design creating perceptual eye-candy with a color scheme reminiscent of a retro 1970s interior. Her paintings present the figurative by creating graphic patterns, creating a canvas that is playful, unique, and very much alive. Vitalija Svencionyte offers a colorful and abstract tribute to Louisiana’s contemporary jazz and blues. Her current work features portraits of musicians painted through the point of view of their instruments, thus conveying something improvisational and interpretive, much like a visual-jazz experience.
Join us on Friday, October 2nd, 6 pm at Galerie Gigi for an opening reception with the artists. The exhibition runs at Galerie Gigi from October 2nd – the 30th, Thursday through Sat 11am to 5pm. For more information visit www.galeriegigineworleans.com or contact Galerie Gigi director, Lindsay Viner at (713) 385-7890 or lindsay.viner@gmail.com.