LSU alumnus and former LSU football player Brandon Surtain was inspired by his hometown of New Orleans to take his art back to his home community.
Surtain graduated from LSU in 2017 with a degree in art and design.
“Since graduation, I’ve been doing a mix of both freelance and design work so commissioned pieces, and the other half of that has been my own personal painting and showing,” Surtain said.
While he was at LSU, Surtain said he would paint during and after class because his time was so “regimented” while on the football team, Surtain said in a press release. He said some of the other football players would go to the studio and paint with him.
“It never really felt like a chore,” Surtain said. “I spent a lot of time around the guys. I was always with friends and family. I think people taking interest in me doing the art certainly helped me be a lot more focused and continue doing the art.”
Surtain grew up in Mid City and said he draws a lot of his inspiration from growing up there and living there now. His family and friends were heavily affected by Hurricane Katrina.
“A lot of what I work on nowadays is reflective a lot of times, and a part of that is drawing on my experiences of New Orleans pre–Hurricane Katrina,” Surtain said. “Essentially at the age of eleven, everything I knew was kind of cut in half, you know. I had to pick up and move, and the place was so drastically changed.”
The most recent show that Surtain had was photographs highlighting a second line group in New Orleans called the Sidewalk Steppers. He used photos he took of the show as inspiration in his paintings.
“One of the last things I did before the pandemic happened, I went out and photographed a second line, the Sidewalk Steppers in New Orleans,” Surtain said. “And seeing all that life, that color, hearing all the sounds, seeing the people, I thought it was fitting to close 2020 with a show dedicated to that.”
In November, Surtain worked on a project that helped to beautify a part of his old neighborhood Lafitte Greenway, a two-mile park, where he helped to transform an old parking lot into a vibrant plaza. He helped to paint a mural and create the stage design for the plaza.
“Recently, I did a design project with a team in New Orleans, and we worked on this place in New Orleans called Lafitte Greenway,” Surtain said. “I got to do this design for this pocket park in my old neighborhood.”
Surtain has helped his community with his involvement in a program called Pass Dat Joy. He and a team from Tulane received a grant to develop art kits for children who are struggling due to the effects of COVID-19. They were able to distribute around 3,000 kits, are working on their second wave and are hoping to expand the program, according to Surtain.
More of Surtain’s art is on his Instagram @brandonjustinsurtain.