Every month, local artists gather to showcase their works and share their inspirations with one another and Baton Rouge residents at the Stabbed in the Art exhibition. Several Baton Rouge artists came together Friday for the monthly assemblage at Tiger District on Perkins Road.
From paintings to blown glass to sculptures, the event encapsulated Baton Rouge’s budding art house movement by letting both new and more experienced artists place their works on the walls for people to see. The event has been around since February 2009.
Any artist in the area is welcome to participate, said Jared Loftus, local entrepreneur and host.
As long as they place their art on the walls the day of the event, they can show it off to all attendees, he said.
“Even with the first football game, Labor Day weekend and a tropical storm heading our way, we still have a lot of people here,” Loftus said. “We usually have about 300 to 400 people come from.”
Patrons of Stabbed range from undergraduate students to working-class families. Many have become regulars, including Jessica Engler, second-year law student.
“I’ve had mutual friends who’ve brought me a couple of times before,” Engler said. “I like to have original art in my apartment if I can help it, and you can get an original piece for half the price of a reproduction at Bed, Bath and hurt.”
Nick Oldenburg, artist and glass blower, has been a part of the event multiple times over the years. His specialty is using watercolors to reproduce fashion photography.
“I’ve always been interested in fashion photography, and I realized I could reproduce [my prints] on a large scale with watercolors really fast,” Oldenburg said.
Watercolors seemed the best alternative for him because he doesn’t like spending much time on projects. Oldenburg uses huge, cheap brushes and paint so that he does not feel the financial or time stress for his side projects.
The great thing about fashion photography is its particular style of lighting, Oldenburg said.
“It’s high-contrasting. Fashion photography is flooded light, very edgy stuff, very hard lighting,” Oldenburg said. “I started noticing that lighting after a while, like as the sun comes up in a bedroom and a ray of light just pierces someone’s face, and it reminds me of validation.”
Oldenburg participates in Stabbed because he likes the affirmation he gets from people viewing and appreciating his art.
“I need people to tell me that they love it,” Oldenburg said. “It makes me feel better as an artist, and I love coming to this party. It makes me feel more comfortable being a part of the another.”
 
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Contact Kittu Pannu at [email protected]