Downtown on North 19th Street there is a building that looks more like the end of a kaleidoscope than a warehouse. It is David Cano’s Ephemeral Gallery. A one-night joint art show was held within the building’s colorful walls Saturday. Five artists from the triad of Louisiana metropolises – Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans – converged to display their pieces of varying mediums, materials and meanings. The artwork ranged from intricate, radial designs made from beer labels to glowing, porcelain lamps shaped like snakes and seashells. Lafayette artist Troy Dugas, who designed the radials, called his work “masochistic” because of the time and attention to detail required. He uses hundreds of antique product labels, from Miller High-Life to Dr. Pepper, to create the pieces he described as “giant doilies.” Construction management senior Christian Rinck said he liked the amazing detail of Dugas’ work. “I’m remarkably impressed,” Rinck said of the show in general. Entrants were greeted by a piece that consisted of a wall-mounted printing press that produced a long scroll of paper running through a sewing machine and spilled onto the floor. On the paper were images of a girl caught unwillingly by the sewn line of gold thread. “If you look, the figures aren’t too happy about it,” said the New Orleans artist and University alumna Jenny LeBlanc. She said the piece, entitled “Sew What Now,” is about conflict and getting things accomplished in spite of yourself. “I’m forcing myself to make art,” she said. LeBlanc said her artistic progress and entire life, was sidetracked by Hurricane Katrina. She and her husband, Kyle Bravo, whose art was also shown at the gallery, lost all of their artwork when their studio flooded. Their work has since been influenced by the disaster. One such piece was featured in an audio side show on CNN.com. Based on military MRE’s – meals ready to eat- LeBlanc made ARM’s – art ready to make – and had attendees show up to a blank gallery and create their own Katrina-inspired art. The hurricane’s effects were prevalent in Bravo’s works at the show. The largest piece consisted of floor-to-ceiling, digitally-altered faces from The Times-Picayune obituary section. “It’s a collective portrait of death in New Orleans,” he said. Bravo said death has always been a prominent theme in the city, but whereas it was celebrated through jazz funerals before, its meaning has dramatically changed. “This is a way of talking about it,” he said. LeBlanc and Bravo met in a printmaking class at the University, LeBlanc said. They run a New Orleans business called Hot Iron Press that offers custom letterpress and silk screen printmaking. Cano said this is the second show of its kind to be held in the warehouse, a space normally reserved for his metal fabrication business. He works mainly with architects to create custom works, such as stairs, doors and windows for buildings. He said he worked with former architecture professor Jim Sullivan to create a set of doors out of old windows from the Pentagon dormitories. Cano said he hopes to showcase local artists through regular shows at the gallery in the future.
—-Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]