The catalog of the show,
The Culture of Queer: A Tribute to J.B. Harter

The Contemporary Arts Center Update

By Wayne Snellen

As you may recall, the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in New Orleans is where the exhibition The Culture of Queer: A Tribute to JB Harter, to which LLGAF loaned 27 works of art, took place. The show also showcased 9 Louisiana artists: Ralph Bourque, Brad Dupuy, Jenny Kahn, Audra Kohout, Michael Meads, Keith Perelli, Roberto Rincon, Maxx Sizeler, and Tom Strider. The itinerary was July 23– September 18, 2005 at the CAC and then it was to travel to NYC to LL March 21–April 29, 2006.

Needless to say, Katrina interrupted the full run of the show in New Orleans. I spoke with David Rubin, Curator of Visual Arts and curator of the show. David states that:

The CAC is currently under repair and we are hopeful that we will be able to resume some activity, possibly in the performing arts area, by January. forty-one windows were lost from the fourth floor and four offices, including mine, received water damage from an overturned water tower on the roof; the offices are being rebuilt. The staff has been reduced from 22 to 7. When we resume visual arts programming, the focus, for now, will be on Louisiana art.
The Culture of Queer exhibition is safe at the New Orleans Museum of Art until it moves to New York. Most of Harter’s work in storage survived the storm. It is my understanding that only a few works on paper were lost.

I have heard from 7 of the 9 artists (I assume Rincon is still in Europe and I have not heard from Strider, but expect he returned to New York). Audra Kohout and Jenny Kahn both lost work and are residing in Austin and San Antonio, respectively. Maxx Sizeler lost some work in her studio, but much of the work is okay; she plans to return to New Orleans soon (from Lafayette). Keith Perelli had some damaged work, but his home is okay and he’s back in New Orleans pre-paring for an upcoming solo exhibition at d.o.c.s. in New Orleans. I’ve heard (from others) that Brad Dupuy has returned to New Orleans; I don’t know if he lost any work. Living in Lafayette Ralph Bourque wasn’t hit by Katrina; he had to evacute for Rita, but his area was spared. [Also we have learned that George Dureau was finally persuaded to vacate his living/studio space and is somewhere in the northeast. But we have heard nothing about the state of his art.] Yours truly has been residing in Cleveland, but will return to my home in the French Quarter on November 18.

Today the Foundation received an email from a friend of Michael Meads who said Michael had lost everything. I don’t think he would mind my quoting him:

The Seventeenth Street Canal sits directly behind our house. The breach in that levee occurred just down the street about five blocks away. Personally, I fear that I am looking at a total loss. Photographs can be taken, prints can be made, artwork can be created. Things can be replaced. Lives cannot. I am grateful just to be sitting here writing this.

You can read Michael’s comments on his website at www.michaelmeads.com.

Clearly this great tragedy has affected all of us in one way or another if only in that we now realize how tenuous existence can be especially in the face of mother nature. But if all goes well with construction of the new Leslie/Lohman Gallery we will open with this show, The Culture of Queer, in March 2006 as scheduled. However, the show is so large that we will need both the new and the old space to display it and we are hoping that many, if not all, of the artists can attend and see that they can finally have the show they deserve.