Two particular articles that caught my attention were those of Ellen Montgomery and Chris Cressionnie, respectively known as "The Cat Lady" and "The Magnet Man". Both of these artistic individuals encompass the soul of New Orleans natives. Both have taken rubble from the ruins and made it their own...redefining what being an artist means post-Katrina.
Ellen Montgomery is a stubborn woman who refused to leave the city when the hurricane hit. Obsessed with painting, her house is filled with thousands of paintings that she has made over the past three decades (at the time of the article). They line the walls throughout her home and those she could not hang, are stacked in piles on the floor. Since the hurricane, she has run out of canvass and has since moved to collecting roof tiles that were scattered into the streets, result of collapsing roofs in the neighborhood. The idea of these sleek beautiful slate tiles being trampled over made her shudder. So she collected them and has since begun to paint scenes drastically different from her once light works (florals, landscapes, etc.) leaning towards something more dark. Her once serene works of art have since become muddied, "work clearly influenced by the monstrous forces that have visited her life this past month (p.111)".
In a similar light, Chris has also found beauty amongst the rubble (if you can even call it beauty). While at one time he was a painter who waited tables for a living, he has since become fond of collecting magnets off of the discarded refrigerators that line the streets, using them to cover his car. Unlike Ellen, his passion for painting withered away with the last gusts of the storm. Having skipped the prospect of morbid paintings entirely, he found a passion for magnet collecting. He walks the ruined streets daily, in search of new magnets to add to his masterpiece. "They're like little trophies of people's lives. Keepsakes (p.117)". Whereas Ellen shuddered at the idea of the slate tiles being trampled, Chris seems to shudder at the idea of these magnets, these identities, becoming lost.
Both artists have been re-defined by what has happened. Katrina has molded them, an artist on her own terms. She titles her work "Destruction". They are no longer the artists they once were, now haunted by the aftermath, in search of sanity. They have found solace in a new art. In a city where they refuse to believe that all is lost. "Destruction" has become their muse.
And so I wonder - what does it mean to be an artist post-Katrina?
That is an excellent question. Is an artist just a painter or sculptor, or can they be a collector of artifacts to create a rolling collage? I think anyone who expresses their feelings through any medium can be considered an artist, be they painter, singer, collector or writer. Our author is himself an artist, he is collecting people's stories and puttng them down as a way of expressing his feelings about the afteraffects of Katrina.
ReplyDeleteI loved the story of the Magnet Man! I was going to write about him as well..but obviously, I changed my plan. Both of these characters are so one-of-a-kind, and I loved reading about them.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't even thought about the artistic facet of these stories until I read your post. Before the hurricane, these artists had a completely different vision of life, and subsequently, the way they portray life through their art. But now that Katrina has shifted the way that they live and think, even on the most primitive of levels, the way they express themselves creatively has shifted as well. Each artist is trying to manifest this through either paintings on slate or an obscene amount of magnets. I think, at the end of the day, the artists that experienced Katrina are just trying to make sense of it all, attempting to put what they can't express with words into artistry.
You pose a really great question, I guess it follows along the same lines of what does it mean to be an artist (period)! An artist at its fundamentals, to me, is someone who can build something out of nothing and that is what the Magnet Man and the Cat Lady do every day. I think its what the people of New Orleans attempt to do every day. They are trying to make sense out of chaos, like the Magnet Man collecting discarded magnets.
ReplyDeleteI think its a beautiful, hopeful concept. Thank you for the inspirational food for thought.