It takes the fresh eye of an outsider to find beauty in what we look at as eyesores. That’s the impact of Puits d’Huile, the new show opening at Galerie Lafayette in Jefferson Street Market, tomorrow night for ArtWalk. Canadian painter Harlan Johnson was visiting Cajun country, mainly focused on the music, when he got a glimpse of our offshore oil platforms. Intrigued, he began exploring how his Acadian roots in Nova Scotia and the modernization the oil industry brought to his culture provide a connection to his Cajun cousins. The result is a series of paintings depicting offshore oil rigs and platforms like you have never imagined them, with fauve skies and Munch-like reflections and plumes of sacred fire. Johnson will be at the opening, 6-8 p.m. Saturday, October 11, and welcomes a discussion of his vision.
While you’re at Galerie Lafayette, don’t miss the show in the small gallery. Works by some of Acadiana’s top artists are up for a silent auction to benefit UL’s BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home. The work, by artists Ayres, Breaux & Reed, Daspit, Frese, Geldersma, Gould, Kepler, Pavy, Poinboeuf, and Lafaye was selected by TEAM BeauSoleil to accompany the BeauSoleil Home to Washington D.C. for the 2009 Solar Decathlon. The exhibit and silent auction will conclude on the Saturday, November 8th ARTWALK at 8pm.