Art strings pull from the Big Easy to the Big Apple

Emily L. Alesandrini, art lover and writer

I moved to New York from New Orleans for a job opportunity in the art world this past January. Having worked in art galleries, as a studio assistant, and a museum intern in smaller urban areas for years, the chance to participate in New York’s expansive, international, vanguard conversations on art production and exhibition is a thrilling one for me. Though I found working in and studying contemporary art in New Orleans enriching, my attention was often pulled to museum exhibitions, gallery openings, and art fairs in the U.S.’s largest city—arguably the center of the Western world’s art scene.

Now living in New York, I still find it miraculous that any night of the week I can attend an artist talk, sit-in on a panel discussion, or see new work in no fewer than two dozen world-class art museums throughout the five boroughs. But something has been happening in my exploration of New York’s art world landscape that I was not expecting… Just as my attention pulled to New York as I lived in New Orleans, I’ve seen how the eye of the New York art world is frequently drawn to art making and exhibition in New Orleans.

Chatting with a few participants of the Independent Curators International (ICI) intensive program, alums raved about their meeting in the Crescent City, studio visits at The Joan Mitchell Center, and roundtable discussions led by Chief Visual Arts Curator at The Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, Andrea Andersson.

At the office watercooler or over coffee in the East Village, scholars, critics, and general art enthusiasts continue to discuss and digest the full spectrum of artists and artworks involved with Prospect 4. During a recent work meeting, a conversation on public art and social engagement prompted one colleague’s praise of the 2007 public project, Waiting for Godot in New Orleans, in the Lower Ninth and Gentilly, a production that included community potlucks and workshops at UNO and Xavier. At the Armory Show earlier this month, I overheard a couple of collectors discussing their enthusiasm for the empowered and shimmering female figures by artist Lina Iris Viktor, the investors happily anticipating her exhibition at The New Orleans Museum of Art later this year.

Though I miss the southern pace, crawfish, music on Frenchman, and Second Saturdays along St. Claude, it’s comforting to feel the reverberating effects of the New Orleans art scene in the air and creative energy of New York. After all, there’s no place like home.